Suspect
by AnotherChance
Summary: “Everybody dies, Jon. The only difference is the why. And I think we all know my ‘why’ was never going to be old age.” A murderer with a very dangerous ability. Will Sarah survive? XO with SW, NCIS, SVU and Tortall. Next in She Walked Upon A Cloud series.
1. Chapter 1

**Suspect**

**Chapter One: A Private Jet? Really?**

"I'm telling you, I don't think she did it." Gibbs said for the fifth time since he had started the argument. They were in the elevator, stuck between the second and third floor, and he was staring down the Director of NCIS, Jenny Shepherd.

"And I'm telling you there are no other leads, and Dinozzo and Ziva had better bring her in without complications. We can't leave any stone unturned, Jethro." The fiery red head retorted.

"She saved the world, Jen."

"She had help, Jethro. This isn't like you, you normally like to meet people before you fit them in a neat little box. You're judging her a little early, aren't you?" The woman raised an eyebrow.

"You forget, I _have_ met her. And when I did she was backed up by five members of the NYPD with unblemished records, as well as an Assistant District Attorney and an FBI psychiatrist. And my gut says she didn't do it."

"I don't care what your gut says. You _will_ interrogate her as though you believe she did it. Don't go easy on her Jethro, if she did it, she won't be easy to crack." The Director warned.

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"So they're sending a _private jet_ to pick us up?" Sarah glanced at Casey as she repeated the same question she had asked at least three times prior.

"Yes." Casey answered, slightly impatient. "It should be here soon."

"So, if they have _private jet_ money," Sarah began, "Why the hell can't you all afford proper soundproofing on the interrogation rooms at the SVU? For that matter, why is the SVU sharing a building with the fourteenth precinct? I mean, I _know_ the one six was blown sky high, but have they even commissioned a new building yet? I just don't get it. What, they award money based on how little fun the workers at each office have? Cause I mean, that must be one _rich_ agency, with Special Agent Gibbs there to rain on everyone's parade."

Casey snorted. "That's the way it is. I know, bummer huh? Oh, I think I see them." She turned to face two of the three agents that had visited them at Fort Lincoln. "Special Agent Dinozzo, Officer David." She nodded at them, ignoring Sarah's almost imperceptible groan.

"Well hello, ladies." The male officer bowed low over his arm, voice very smooth, a grin on his face that was supposed to melt her in her shoes. "If you'll just head in this direction, we can fast track through security and be on our way."

Officer David rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. He thinks there's romance to be had anywhere, even the airport terminal. He's just looking to strike with one of you."

"The term's _score_, Ziva. And I would never,_ never_ try that on such lovely ladies." His smile was charming, Sarah had to give him that. "Even if one is suspected for murder. And for your information, Officer David, there _is_ romance to be found in an airport terminal. Did you ever see 'The Terminal'? Tom Hanks-"

"No. I didn't. Neither did they. Can we just get moving?" The Israeli gestured impatiently in the direction of the security checkpoint.

Sarah and Casey exchanged glances. "Well, I guess their funding wouldn't be _that_ great, under that new finance plan we developed." Sarah muttered to the attorney, who slapped her on the arm.

"Stop joking around. You're in a lot of trouble if we don't get your name cleared." The older woman hissed in Sarah's ear.

Turning pale, Sarah shut her eyes and breathed slowly through her nose. When the pain had passed, she held up her heavily bandaged right arm. "Can I say, ow?" The burns had been inflicted by the Queen of Chaos herself, and didn't heal quickly. "I have burns all over this one, and a _hole_ in my other shoulder. So no slapping of the arm, thankyou. If you _must_ hit me, whack me over the head. A little extra damage won't make a difference."

"Sorry." Casey winced as she remembered how Sarah had received the injuries. "But you need to be more serious. You're being investigated for murder."

They followed the two NCIS agents to the security checkpoint and passed through without any problems – Casey had convinced Sarah that bringing knives would be a bad idea, and made her leave them at the SVU squadroom. Instead the younger woman was weaponless. Completely weaponless.

Following the two agents once again, they made their way to a private gate and walked across the tarmac to a small jet with the boarding stairs down. Climbing the stairs, Sarah whistled as she got a look at the interior. "Now _this_ is nice. Is that real leather?"

Dinozzo just grinned. "Now, I can't offer you champagne, or at least, not with your attorney present," He flashed a grin at Casey, who narrowed her eyes, "But if you'd like water, or a soda…"

Sarah shook her head and took a seat. "You aren't charming anyone. And thanks, but I'm not thirsty. How long will this flight take?"

"This baby flies at Mach 6, it'll only take a few-"

Officer David cut him off, carrying three bottles of water, two of which she passed to the other women. "He doesn't know what he's talking about." She explained with a smile. "This jet doesn't even make Mach 1; the flight will take about seven hours. And the bottle is for when you _do_ get thirsty."

A man's voice came over the speaker. "Please be seated and fasten your seatbelts for takeoff." The plane began to taxi.

Sarah clipped on the safety precaution, mirroring the actions of Casey and Officer David. Dinozzo, slightly miffed at Sarah's comment about his charm, moved across the aisle to a spare seat, just as the plane lurched. He almost ended up flat on his ass, and Sarah grinned at Casey. The attorney didn't smile. "What? Oh, come on Case. You should lighten up."

"You're on your way to be interrogated about _murders_. _You_ should stop acting so cheery." The older woman replied.

"What? _I_ know I didn't do it. _You_ know I didn't do it. I honestly could care less what Special Agent Stick-Up-His-Ass thinks. And eventually, when the times don't add up, or hey, if someone else is offed while I'm being questioned, they'll realise it wasn't me and let me help get the guy doing it." Sarah shrugged. "Until then… well, this _is_ a nice jet."

Casey shook her head and turned to Officer David, to discuss details of the case, and Sarah nestled back into her chair uncomfortably, closing her eyes. Eventually she drifted off, restlessly sleeping for the rest of the trip.

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"Alright. I'm here. Let's do this." A voice behind Gibbs made him turn around. There was Suspect Number 1, Sarah Gibson, standing with her arms crossed, sling and all, looking incredibly bored.

And standing next to her, in her best powersuit, was the woman he recognized as Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak. "Delivered them, just like I promised, boss." Dinozzo appeared behind the two.

"Dinozzo, shut up." Special Agent Gibbs snapped as he made his way past. "Ziva, you're with me. Let's take this down to the interrogation room, shall we?" He gestured ahead of himself, and Sarah and Casey exchanged glances.

"This is going to be _fun_." Sarah muttered to the ADA sarcastically as they followed the greying man's hand and walked ahead of the two agents. "What's the bet someone ends up dead in the time between now and when I finally convince the tight ass that I'm innocent?"

"Shh." Casey prodded her in the ribs to keep her quiet. When they reached the interrogation room Officer David split off, entering a room before they were gestured to another door. When Sarah noticed the large mirror, she grinned at Casey.

"I'm sorry. It's just, this is ridiculous." She grinned at the attorney, who shook her head.

"You see, this is why I _prosecute_. You don't need to tell your client to _shut up_."

"Sit down. What can you tell me about the murders?" Gibbs threw the manila folder down on the desk; it spilled open to reveal the same photos she'd already seen.

"Well, like I said the other day. Powerful, lacks control, anger management issues. Are there any new bodies?" She asked, shoving the photos back to the older man.

"No." He replied as he shoved the photos back at her. "But you knew that."

"No, I didn't." Sarah replied, pushing them back across the table. "Did they all occur in the same area?"

This time the photos stayed on Gibbs' side of the table. "You don't know?" His voice was even; his eyes never left her face.

"Oh stop playing games, Special Agent Gibbs." Sarah snapped. "No. I don't. I can _help_, _if_ you let me. Now, where were the bodies found? Spread out… all in the same place… found at the corners of a pentagram?" She shrugged, looking for an answer.

"A pentagram?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

Casey stared at Sarah too. "Hey, you never know. Someone wakes up, gets _pissed off_, blasts someone, realises they have abilities others don't, and looks for a religion to follow. Trust me, it's easier to learn all about the Gift if you've got a set of rules to follow, even if the rules are _wrong_. Rules come from a religion; since you lot don't have the Great Gods' involvement in this dimension, it'd make sense for them to look to other religions. Like Satanism."

"The pentagram comes from Paganism, not Satanism." Gibbs corrected her. "And no, they weren't found on a pentagram, or any other discernible pattern."

"Hmm…" Sarah leant forward and peered at the photos. "That's interesting."

"What's interesting?" Gibbs asked, and she heard the restraint in his voice. He wanted her to hurry up and confess to the murders.

"The bones. It might just be the pictures… but the fuse is _smooth_. I'd expect it to be more… I don't know, raw, with an untrained individual. But this… this is like it's been sanded down or something." She cocked her head. "Wow, you lot have a real psycho on your hands."

"You know, Sarah, it might be best if you didn't say anything else." Casey advised her softly.

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"Watch. He's about to break her." Tony grinned through the glass. "Gibbs can break anyone. He's getting ready."

"You enjoy this way too much, you know that Tony?" Ziva shook her head at the taller field agent. "Besides, I do not think she did it."

"Why not?" McGee, the third and final figure standing behind the glass frowned. "She's the only known person on this entire _planet_ with the ability to use this 'Gift' of hers."

Ziva nodded slowly, a small smile on her face. "_Exactly_ McGee. She's the only _known_ person on the entire planet with the ability to use the Gift. And she's obviously trained – why kill someone in a way that identifies you so easily and _deny_ it when you could just as easily snap their necks?"

"Uhh… maybe because she got _angry_?" Dinozzo replied sarcastically. "She said it herself, they have anger management issues. Maybe she just lost it and blasted them."

Ziva shook her head. "I don't think so." She replied in a sing song voice, before returning her attention to the scene unfolding behind the glass.

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"Just admit it!" Gibbs snapped, his voice almost a yell. "You might not have meant to do it, it might have been an accident. You might have just lost control, but _you did it_."

"I don't lose control. I'm sitting my Mastery exams in a couple of months, and even _Adepts_ don't lose control." Sarah clenched her fist under the table and winced as she fought to keep her voice even. Gibbs was wasting time accusing her while the real murderer was out there, probably killing another person as they argued, and it was starting to piss her off.

"Oh, you don't lose control." Gibbs was sarcastic. "Well then I guess that just leaves murder. Go ahead, deny that you've killed people."

Sarah stood, bringing herself to her full height as she narrowed her eyes at the NCIS Agent. "I'm not a liar either. I _have_ killed people. I've killed raiders, Scanran invaders, immortals, Death Eaters, members of the Imperial Remnant, a few _alien invaders_." She emphasised the last to remind him of the all too recent alien invasion that she had helped stop. "But the thing is, Special Agent Gibbs, _I only kill in the defence of myself or others._ I am not a cold blooded murderer. I did not kill those people in the photos. And if I had, I wouldn't be so cowardly as to use the Gift to it so _thoroughly_. I would have run them through with a sword instead. Now _back off._"

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"She didn't break…" Dinozzo sounded stunned. "But Gibbs can break anyone."

"Wow. There's a first for everything, I guess." McGee frowned in confusion, peering at the girl through the glass in interest.

"I told you she was innocent." Ziva grinned.

"This doesn't mean she's innocent." Tony argued. "It just means she's a tough nut to crack."

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Sarah hadn't returned to her seat. "If you want my help finding the killer, then I'll help. If you don't, I'm leaving. I-"

A voice inside her head interrupted her rant. _Messenger._It was the Great Mother Goddess. _The Solo children need your help. They are about to be kidnapped._

_What?!_ Sarah's mental voice was shocked. _Who? Where?_

_We cannot tell you everything-_

_There are rules, I know._ Sarah replied silently, before sighing. _Thanks for the headsup. _

_You are most welcome, my daughter._

When Sarah returned her focus to the interrogation room she noticed a hand on her arm, steadying her. "Sarah? Are you okay? You turned pale and zoned out for a minute there." Casey was saying as she tried to lead her back to her seat. "Sit down, you're still recovering-"

"No time, Case." The knight shook her head. "Three kids I'm rather fond of are about to be kidnapped."

"What? How could you possibly-"

She interrupted Gibbs' confused question with a shake of her head. "I'd love to get into the nitty gritty of the Gods' involvement in my life, but I really don't have time. Suffice to say that the Great Mother just paid me a huge favour in telling me. Now, thanks for the _charming_ hospitality, but I gotta jet."

Sarah shook herself free of Casey's supporting arm, taking a step back.

"You aren't going anywhere." Gibbs replied, narrowing his eyes, and Dinozzo and the other man blocked the door as Ziva came closer, drawing level with Gibbs.

"Sorry, but it's important. Life and death, literally." Sarah rolled her shoulder experimentally, and winced in pain. Not good.

"You're safe here."

"Not _my_ life and death, you twat." She replied, losing patience. "The life and death of those three kids I was talking about? Geez, for a fed you're pretty slow, aren't ya?"

"Who's going to kidnap them?" Casey asked with a frown.

"Dunno. The Great Mother couldn't tell me, it'd break one of the 'rules'. Anyway, no more time to stay and chat. Later."

Just as Sarah turned the inner circle on the pendant Mithros had given her, three people leapt forward, two in an attempt to stop her escape, and the third in support even as the young knight staggered lightly.

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"What the _hell?_!" Sarah yelled as they reverted to reality in the corridor outside the Solo's apartment. "You idiots! You don't know what you're getting yourselves into! And now we don't have time to get you all back to Earth. Damnit." She muttered, ignoring Ziva, Gibbs and Casey as she turned to the door, banging loudly. "Leia! Open up! Threepio! Someone!"

After a moment, the door _whooshed_ open to reveal the middle-aged Chief of State, a confused frown on her face. "Sarah! What are you doing here-"

She strode down the hallway, leaving the earthlings in the door way as Leia hurried to catch up. She saw datapads strewn along a coffee table, a cup of caf abandoned – obviously Leia had been working from home today. "Where are the kids?" She asked without preamble.

"They're in the study. Why?"

"They're in danger." Sarah answered as she moved quickly to the door to the study and hit the switch to open the door, ignoring the stunned earthlings, who had caught up and were examining the living room. Just as the door opened there was a loud explosion, and a force knocked Sarah off her feet.

"Sarah!" Leia and Casey each called; the mother ran into the study as the attorney knelt by Sarah's side.

"Stun grenade." She gritted out through the pain in her shoulder as her vision cleared and the ringing in her ears slowly subsided into a dull hum. Sarah sat up just in time to see a man shove Leia painfully against the wall and the long brown hair of the oldest Solo child being forced into a speeder. Ziva and Gibbs rushed into the room too late; the younger agent raced across the room, but as she reached the edge of the gaping hole in the wall, she windmilled, trying not to fall the thousands of storeys to her death. Gibbs grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her backwards, to safety.

Sarah glanced at the receding form of the speeder. "Shit."

Leia spun her around. "Sarah, who just stole my children?" She demanded.

"I have no idea." The knight frowned, hands clenching and unclenching as anger washed through her. "Damn it! We were too late!"

Leia had pulled out a comlink and immediately ordered all transport on and off the planet suspended, before calling Han to prep the _Falcon_. Then she turned to Sarah, whose eyes were flashing dangerously, promising a swift punishment to those involved in taking the Solo children – and not a very pleasant punishment. "You have some explaining to do on the way to the _Falcon_. Come on."

Sarah gave the woman a nod and gestured to the earthlings to follow as they rushed out of the room. "Where's Winter?"

"On a mission for General Cracken."

"Is Chewie with Han?"

"Yes. Now, how did you know that was going to happen?" Leia glanced briefly at the younger woman as they rushed down the hall to a turbolift.

"The Great Mother Goddess told me it was about to happen. Leia- I should have been faster. I'm so sorry-"

"You tried. That's all I can ask. Right now, we need to find them." Leia cut her off firmly.

"Right. A couple of humans with three human children. Can't be _too_ hard to find on a planet like this, right?" Sarah asked, trying for levity. The expression on Leia's face told her it hadn't worked.

"Can the Great Mother-"

"Nope. Against the rules." The knight shook her head.

"Wait a minute." Gibbs laid a hand on Sarah's uninjured shoulder, spinning her around. "'Planet like this'?"

"Yeah. We've kind of got a dead line. Quick run down, we're in a dimension where there's a galaxy spanning government. Leia here-" She jerked a thumb at the anxious mother, "Is the Chief of State. Speaking of, where are those creepy little Noghri guards of yours?"

"They aren't creepy." Leia replied absentmindedly. "Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar thought it would be a good idea if I didn't use them unless it was absolutely necessary… because they used to be the willing servants of the Empire."

"So they told you to send them away. They told you that, for the sake of public image, you need to get rid of the best damned bodyguards in the _galaxy_." Sarah shook her head in disgust as the doors opened. "That's ridiculous. Idiots."

They rushed out of the turbolift and down the corridor, before opening a door to an open-air platform. They saw Han yelling up the ramp. "Chewie, hurry up and reattach that negative power coupling! Traffic control said three dozen ships got out before they shut down the shield!"

Rushing to the ship, Sarah beckoning with her right hand, waving the earthlings onboard. "Come on, we'll deal with the problem of you lot being here later. Right now we've gotta jet."

"In _that_?" Casey balked at the sight of the ship.

"Yes, _that_." Sarah leapt up the ramp behind Leia. See-Threepio greeted her at the top of the ramp.

"Mistress Sarah, it is a pleasure to-"

"Yeah, you too. Make friends and get this lot strapped in." She jerked her thumb at the three staring law enforcers before following Leia into the cockpit, where Han was sitting with a headset on, yelling to Chewie.

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"Hello, my name is See-Threepio, human cyborg relations. I am fluent in over six million forms of communication…" The prissy gold droid continued for a few moments as Ziva, Gibbs and Casey stared, slackjawed.

"Ah, great." Casey was the first to regain her voice. "Aren't you supposed to be getting us strapped in, or something?"

"Why certainly, Mistress. Please, take a seat around the Dejarik table…" Casey complied, as did the two NCIS agents, sitting around what looked like a round chess table. The droid secured them with what looked like elaborate seatbelts, before sitting next to Ziva and strapping himself down.

"So, you are an android?" Ziva cocked her head as she stared at the golden droid, interested.

"Why, yes, I am."

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"Have you reattached the coupling? What d'ya mean, you can't find it? Listen, you overgrown furball, if you don't- Good job Chewie, now get up here." Han flicked a few switches, and the ship roared to life.

"The hyperdrive had better be working this time Han." Leia warned. "Did traffic control track the hyperspace coordinates of the ships that got out?"

"Yeah. Can you sense the kids anywhere nearby?" Han replied.

Leia just shook her head as she flicked on the ship's comlink and requested permission for the shield to be released. "They're gone. No where nearby."

Han pulled up a list of three dozen systems. "D'you think the Force will guide you if you pick out a system?"

Leia didn't answer, instead her face was terse as she scanned the list. Her finger shot out. "That one. What's in the Firkan system?"

"Nothing. Binary system, no inhabited planets, no mining colonies, no scouting missions for the last twelve years. The fifth planet from Firkan Prime is inhabitable – the only one in the system that is. And even then, you need pretty good radiation shielding – Firkan Four and Firkan Six are both gas giants that are pretty close the Firkan Five for most of the local year. The radiation isn't deadly, but it's not good for you either. There are caves on Five that used to be pretty useful for hiding, you know, when the Imps were on your tail with a hold full of Corellian whisky or Corusca gems, but last I heard a group of pirates were scaring away any smugglers that became too interested in the planet." His eyes narrowed. "If they're headed there-"

"They're either pirates, or they'll be blown out of the sky when they get there." Sarah finished for him helpfully, before wincing. "Sorry."

Leia glanced backwards briefly before turning to Han. "Gun it."

When the ship had cleared the gravity well of the Capitol of the New Republic, the man pulled the hyperspace lever, sending the ship hurtling faster than the speed of light, following the kidnappers.

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The ship hit a hyperspace eddy just as Sarah left the cockpit. She staggered, before straightening with a grimace. "Oh boy. I suppose you all want an explanation as to _why_ grabbing me when I was just about to leave was one of the stupidest things you could have _ever_ done."

"Just maybe." Gibbs replied sarcastically. "And could you tell us what _that_ is?" He jerked his thumb at Chewie, who growled dangerously in reply.

"_That_ is a Wookie. He'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them, and that _isn't_ an exaggeration. He's also intelligent and his own person. So don't refer to him as a 'that', refer to him as a 'he'. You xenophobe." She glared at the earthling, daring him to argue.

Casey winced at the tone of Sarah's voice, but kept her silence. The knight noticed the expression on the attorney's face and sighed. "I'm sorry, Casey. I wasn't calling _you_ stupid. I meant Snatchy and Grabby here. Anyway. You've just managed to stumble into a more dangerous situation than you've ever dealt with."

"Because drug lords, arms dealers and terrorists aren't serious." Officer David seemed to take offence at her tone.

"Not as serious as space pirates." She countered.

"Ah, yes. Do they have peg legs and toucans, too?" Ziva asked lightly, and Sarah blinked.

"Toucans?"

"You know, those little coloured birds that sit on their shoulders-"

"Parrots, and _no. _Take this seriously. The kidnappers might be associated with space pirates. If so, we're about to fly into a nest of them that are going to try and shoot us to smithereens. If not, _they're_ about to fly into a nest of them that are going to try and shoot them to smithereens. Either way, it's not looking good for the kids, so _we_ have to save them. That means you _shut the hell up_ and behave, got it?"

She met Officer David's gaze evenly; the door to the cockpit _whooshing_ open interrupted her staring contest with the Israeli.

"Alright, I want an explanation for these three." Leia said as she entered the entertainment area.

"Casey's alright. These two think I've murdered a bunch of people – they were interrogating me when the Great Mother warned me." Sarah replied without preamble. "They won't believe that I don't just 'lose control' of my Gift."

"They think…" Leia trailed off. "Well, they're fools. How did they come to get transported here?"

"They grabbed me in an attempt to stop my escape." Sarah answered.

"_They_ are sitting right here." Officer David piped up.

Sighing, the young knight turned back to the earthlings. "Casey, same rules as when the White Martians attacked. Jump when we say jump, duck when we say duck, fire in the hole means you get the hell out of the way." Looking to the NCIS agents, her tone turned icy. "You aren't the boss here, Gibbs. Here, you're an _annoyance._ You don't do as we say, I chain you up in the hold with a pair of stun cuffs. I'm not about to let your arrogance affect our chances of rescuing the kids."

Leia's eyebrow quirked at Sarah's words. "Well you're certainly in a bad mood."

"I've had a _bad_ time recently. Don't ask." She warned.

"Had a bad time _murdering_ people?" Gibbs quipped.

Sarah took a deep, calming breath. "Okay, you're getting cuffed in the hold. Chewie?"

"Sarah." Leia's voice was gentle, reproachful.

The Wookie wuffed a laugh and mussed her hair. "No, I don't think you quite realise how close to kicking his ass I am." She glared at the older agent, who glared right on back. "He has been _on and on_ about how I 'murdered someone', how I'm a killer. I'm _sick to death_ of it. He's getting damned close to an ass whooping."

"Yeah?" He stood nose to nose with her, but Chewie forced him back down to his seat.

"Sit down. Shut up. Bad luck for you, we're hurtling through hyperspace at faster than the speed of light, or I'd have you back at NCIS faster than the blink of an eye."

Leia tugged Sarah along, to the living quarters. "Spill."

"No, Leia, don't worry about me. You've got enough on your plate. I'll vent to Casey later." Sarah glanced down guiltily. "I'm not handling the situation very well. I'll get my head in the game."

"Sarah, look at me." Leia commanded firmly. "_What happened?_"

The younger woman sat on the bunk and pinched the bridge of her nose, staving off a headache. "It just seems like longer than a month since I was helping out with the harvest in Greenstone. I've been on two missions for the Gods, as well as helping out with an alien invasion in _their_ dimension. I- I failed the first mission."

Leia pulled her into a tight hug. "And?"

"People died." Sarah replied bluntly; she wasn't going to break down at an inopportune moment, like the night before the White Martians had attacked.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know." Sarah whispered. "That doesn't make it any better. But that's not important at the moment. What's important is that we have to get the kids back."

Leia plucked at the soft cotton of her sling. "How badly injured are you?"

The young knight sighed. "Third degree burn on the right arm that stubbornly refuses to heal, I was speared through the shoulder about a week ago, that's what the sling's for, and I've got healing gashes down my back."

"It'll be too dangerous for you to help out in the rescue." Leia pointed out softly, and Sarah scoffed.

"Me'n the kids escaped Runorlan with me worse injured." She pointed out. "And if I'd been just a bit faster, we wouldn't be hurtling towards a pirate strong hold with three very _inexperienced_ earthlings to rescue them. What support do we have coming, anyway?"

"I gave the coordinates to Luke. He's bringing Kam, Kyp and Mara to help. Yavin's closer to the Firkan system than Coruscant; they should be arriving about the same time as we are." Leia answered. "Maybe you should get some rest."

"How long until we get there?" Sarah asked.

"About two days. I-" Leia's voice cut off, and her eyes grew distant, her face troubled. "Jaina's scared. Terrified."

"More than she was when she was kidnapped?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. They've felt like they're in fear since they were taken. But it just… just… spiked." Leia's voice was soft.

Laying a hand on Leia's shoulder, Sarah gave it a brief squeeze. "We'll get them. And we'll find the kidnapping bastards, and _get_ them too. They'll be okay."

Nodding, the Chief of State moved to the door. "Get some rest. We'll have to sleep in shifts anyway, there aren't enough bunks."

"There are if we make Gibbs and David sleep on the floor." Sarah muttered.

"They really think you murdered someone?" Leia asked.

"Yeah. I went public in their dimension, and a few days later some Marines turned up dead with what _looks_ like fused bones. Someone blasted them with their Gift, and since _I'm_ the only person on the planet known to have the Gift, _I _must have done it." Sarah sighed and sat on the edge of a bunk, removing her boots.

"You'll clear it up." Leia reassured her.

"That's what Casey's here for. I met her and a bunch of other _nice_ people in their dimension about four months ago. She's a prosecutor for the People, but she said she'd be my legal representation for the _situation_. She's really nice, tell Chewie to lay off of her, would you?" Sarah flopped backwards, letting her eyes flutter closed.

She heard footsteps approach and felt Leia's hand brush the bangs out of her eyes, before the older woman left the knight to rest.

TBC….


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to Dares to Dream, Sportygirl, Welcome to the black parade and Ramaging Bookcase for the reviews/favourite story additions.**

Keep the helpful comments coming! On with the show...

**Chapter Two: Boldly Going Where No NCIS Agent Has Gone Before!**

On the planet of Dathomir, a ship was taking off from a small village, warrior women in red and green lizard skins trying to chase the vessel, in vain. The lone man of the group, dressed in expensive yet serviceable slacks and a simple shirt rolled up at the sleeves, dropped to his knees in defeat. A woman, his wife, placed a firm hand on his shoulder, ignoring the tears dripping down the man's face. Her own face was resolute. "We will find our daughter. We must prepare the ship."

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"Casey, was it? Can I speak to you for a moment?" Leia smiled at the woman; when she stood to follow Leia into the cockpit, Officer David stood also, only to be growled down by Chewie.

They passed Han on the way into the cockpit and heard him say, "You overgrown carpet, stop growling at them. They're allowed to stand up if they want to."

Leia shook her head as they sat down in the passenger seats. "Sorry if Chewie frightened you. Sarah vouched for you, so I trust you, and so will Han. The other two… well, Chewie's got to have some fun somehow."

Casey glanced at the door, a half smile on her face. "How did Sarah react to all... this?"

"Well…" Leia returned the half smile. "I gave her an opening. She took a blaster bolt for me, when she came to _this_ dimension. The Gods sent her here to protect the kids. But Mithros sent her here in clothes that… befitted a homeless person. I assumed she was, and she jumped at the cover story. She said 'I've never seen any technology in the lower levels of the city, not really' so she was allowed to gape at everything she saw."

"And _that_ cover story worked?" Casey almost scoffed, but looked apologetic when she realised her tone might have sounded… arrogant.

Leia smiled at the attorney. "Yes. She'd just saved my life from an attempted assassination, so I was inclined to believe her. And she was good with the kids. She blew her cover when she was kidnapped with the kids – she got beaten half to death when people held blasters to their heads. She didn't fight, in case the men got trigger happy. And then she escaped on a half destroyed freighter, and forced the kids to get in the only three available envirosuits when life support failed."

"She told me about that. It was on her 'top three' of stupidest things she's ever done. Getting on the freighter, that is. Not giving up the envirosuits for the kids. She won't tell me what the other two are." Casey shook her head. "Forgive me if I'm overstepping my boundaries, but… shouldn't you be more concerned? If it were my kids I'd be pacing a hole in the floor right now."

Leia's jaw tensed, but she shook her head. "The kids are targets. They've been kidnapped before; people have been after them since they were born. Either I focus on something else, or…" Leia grimaced. "They're scared. I can feel it." When Casey looked confused and sceptical, she continued. "The Force connects us. It's strong in our family… I can tell when the children are in pain, or frightened, or upset."

Nodding slowly, Casey stood. "I'd better go keep the others out of trouble. Or at least quiet."

Leia shook her head. "Just out of curiosity, how serious is her situation with the other two?"

"It's all circumstantial. They don't really have a case, but murder accusations are always serious." Casey sighed. "If only _she'd_ take it seriously."

"She's not?" Leia's jaw dropped.

"She was joking the entire way to their office." The attorney replied dryly.

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The two NCIS agents were talking quietly when Leia and Casey reentered the entertainment area. Chewie was growling softly – he was in hearing distance. "You know, he _can_ understand every word that you say." Han looked mildly amused when they looked up.

"Well then he knows that your friend is in a lot of trouble." Gibbs replied evenly. "She's the only person with the ability to kill that way in our dimension, so she's our prime suspect."

"She's the only person that we _know_ of." Ziva corrected him absently, and received a slap on the back of her head as a reward. "What?"

"You don't undermine your boss in front of a suspect's friends." He replied, standing as he headed towards the living quarters.

"Where do you think you're going?" Casey asked, her eyes narrowing.

"To speak to your client." He tossed back over his shoulder, but Han blocked his path, being closest to the door.

"Not without me." Casey retorted.

"Not right now." Leia added. "She's resting. In case you didn't notice, she's injured. Or didn't that matter to you when you dragged her in for an interrogation?"

"Those injuries," Casey finished, "Were caused when she almost _died_ saving our version of Earth. It's not even her home planet, but she was tortured in her effort to stop the White Martians. Have you ever been psychically raped, Special Agent Gibbs?" Leia gasped at the revelation.

He set an intense stare against her. "She's the only suspect we have."

"Find a new one." Sarah muttered as she pushed past him. Her eyes flicked to Casey, and she added, "And stop calling it that. It wasn't that bad."

Casey merely pursed her lips, but Gibbs had no problem speaking. "I thought you were resting."

Turning back to Gibbs, she glared at him. "I _was_."

"Too loud for you?" He baited.

"No." She replied.

"Nightmares?" Leia asked softly, and Sarah nodded with a grunt, moving to the food preserver, searching for something decent to eat.

"Ration bars. Yummy." She muttered, sarcastic.

"Go get some more sleep." Leia gestured back to the quarters, but Sarah shook her head.

"I'm gonna bone up on the Firkan system, see what we can't expect when we get there. Past Han's obvious expertise on the matter." She headed to the cockpit, and Officer David followed her. When Casey moved to stop her, Leia laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Let her go. Maybe Sarah can convince her of her innocence." Leia murmured, before settling in a seat, focusing on a datapad with the information the holonet had on the Firkan system laid out in front of her.

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"So we are in another dimension." Ziva looked to Sarah, who wasn't paying attention.

"Yep."

"And you swear you didn't kill those Marines?"

This caught Sarah's attention. "Officer David, must I constantly repeat myself? No, I didn't. I can _help_ you find the man who did."

"I believe you. And call me Ziva, it saves on the breath. So, how do you operate this… computer?" She moved to touch the control panel.

"Don't!" Sarah slapped her hand away. "I swear, Han'll send you out the airlock if you touch any of the controls. The only people allowed to so much as _touch_ the controls are Han himself, Chewie, Leia and her brother Luke."

"Ookay." Ziva searched the small room for a subject to talk about. "And that- that was a real android out there?"

"Threepio?" Sarah snorted. "Yeah. Did he introduce himself?"

"'I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations. I am fluent in over six million forms of-'"

"Ah, you let yourself be suckered into that one. Next time, just tell him to shut up." Sarah smiled, for once realising she might like the Israeli woman.

"I will." Ziva promised. "About those rules you gave us-"

"Gibbs won't follow them, will he?" Sarah asked, studying a picture of the temples with a frown.

"Not likely, no. He'll want to follow you to make sure you don't escape. He won't want to let you out of his sight."

"Right." Sarah sighed. "Obviously you can both use guns?" A snort was her reply. "If he wants to come, I won't stop him. To be truthful, I wouldn't mind some extra backup when we go up against pirates, provided your aim is true."

"Trust me, our aim is true." Ziva laughed. "Are… pirates… really so dangerous? I'd imagine someone of _your_ experience wouldn't worry about your every day bad guys, rather just the ones with special abilities."

Sarah sighed, turning away from the screen as she tried to explain. "'Someone with _my_ experience'? Ziva, most of what I deal with is raiders, pirates, Scanrans, other normal, human invaders trying their luck on Tortallan soil. Sure, my most _memorable_ skirmishes are with the unusually gifted fighters, be they Gifted, not human or otherwise empowered, but most of my battles have been fought blade to blade with another normal person on the other side – the _wrong_ side – of the fight. I haven't ever come up against space pirates, in fact, the only time I've been involved in anything remotely dangerous in this dimension was when a Dark Jedi kidnapped me and the kids and tried to convert us to his dastardly ways."

Ziva's mouth quirked in a smile. "'Dastardly ways'?"

Sarah returned the smile with a nod. "Yeah. I could have my very own solar system right now if I wanted it. But I decided to escape with the kids instead."

"And what is a 'Dark Jedi'?"

"An evil Jedi." Sarah explained, then realised that probably wasn't a good enough explanation. "Alright, Jedi use a power called the Force to do stuff like telekinesis, limited telepathy… and stuff…" Sarah trailed off, realising she didn't know enough to explain it properly.

"And these Jedi, they worship your Gods, too?" Ziva frowned. Sarah was confusing her more than she was helping.

"No. The Force… it doesn't have Gods. It just is. I'm not the greatest at explaining things, and the fact of the matter is, I don't know that much about it either. I'll let Luke – he's a Jedi Master, basically the most powerful _good_ Jedi in the galaxy – explain it properly." Sarah returned to her pondering, staring out the viewport, the datapad on the Firkan system forgotten in her lap.

Ziva let her sit quietly for a moment, before asking, "What _is_ that?"

"What?" Sarah looked up, to see the other woman pointing out the viewport. "Oh, hyperspace. We're travelling faster than the speed of light."

There was silence once more in the cockpit, until Ziva cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Can we keep the fact that I don't believe you killed the marines to ourselves? I don't think Gibbs would appreciate lack of support on my part in the… situation we find ourselves in."

"Sure. If you don't mind that I keep treating you like crap until you out yourself to your boss." Sarah flashed the woman a grin. "Just to keep appearances up."

"I think I can take it."

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Gibbs didn't take his eyes from the door to the cockpit once as he watched for the return of the Mossad attaché to his unit. She had disappeared with the woman the Director believed had killed three Marines ten minutes ago, and she hadn't reappeared. He'd never admit it, but he was getting worried, and wondered what was going on behind the closed door.

"Hey, furball." He tried getting the Wookie's attention. The creature only growled and turned back to the man who had left the cockpit, that had been briefly introduced as Han Solo, and Leia Organa Solo, apparently the President of the 'New Republic'. "Hey, I was talking to you."

He saw Casey shake her head from her seat across from him. "You have a real way with people, you know that? Excuse me, Chewbacca, hi." The Wookie turned and nodded to Casey, giving a questioning growl. "I know you don't want to listen to Special Agent Gibbs, heck, neither do I, but he'll make life on this spaceship a living hell if you don't answer him. Please, I've had enough of his attitude to last a life time."

The Wookie chuffed a laugh at the attorney before growling at Gibbs. The agent took this as all the attention he needed and asked, sarcastically, "Hey, where's the can?"

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"Casey?" Leia's voice was firm, eyes unreadable. "I'd like another chat, if you wouldn't mind."

"Leia-" Sarah tried, but the woman's face didn't soften.

"No, Sarah, I'd like another chat with Casey." The Chief of State reiterated, and gestured towards the cockpit. Casey glanced between the knight and the mother uneasily.

"Can I at least umpire the conversation?" Sarah sighed. "You're looking a little intense."

"You need more rest, Sarah. We won't need an umpire. Why don't you go lie down?" Leia tried smiling at the attorney, to reassure her, but Sarah narrowed her eyes, before giving Casey a nod.

"Go on. There's only so many places to hide on this ship, and I doubt you could find one that she doesn't know about." The knight fluttered a hand at her Earthling friend. "Try not to cave in too easily, have some self respect."

Casey recovered enough to smile back at Sarah. "Cave in? What are you talking about, I'm going to tell her everything she wants to know. I doubt it'll be any surprise to her, after all, she's known you for longer than _I_ have, and even I know how much trouble you manage to find without putting much effort in."

Sarah just narrowed her eyes, and Casey followed Leia into the cockpit, and the door whooshed shut behind her. It was but a moment before the Chief of State and veteran of the battle against the Galactic Empire turned on her. "What were you talking about, _psychically raped_?"

Casey perched on a seat, wincing at the tone the woman used. "The aliens that were invading our planet, the ones that Sarah and her new friends in the Justice League were trying to stop, were allied with three others of a species that had significant psychic abilities. Our planet had no previous experience with aliens, we barely managed spaceflight to our moon about forty years ago. So Sarah felt it necessary to put out, I guess you could call it an _announcement_ of the invasion, to make sure everyone remained calm, although I'm not sure the good it did in _that_ regard. The White Martians – the aliens with the psychic abilities – identified her as the leader of the resistance fighters, and attacked her mind with their abilities."

Horror flashed across Leia's face, and the woman stared at the door leading to the entertainment area, where Sarah sat. "She was-"

"Twice." Casey interrupted softly. "The second time was when we were escaping the White Martian ship, with their prisoners. One of the Martians took us by surprise, knocked out two of our defenders, leaving Sarah the only one at the front of the pack with any real firepower. That's when he speared her through the shoulder and pinned her against the wall. He threatened us to surrender, or he'd… do what the other Martian did to her, but Sarah told Batman and Black Canary to attack anyway."

"And what is she doing being investigated for murder? I understand that she's a suspect, what I mean is…" Leia grimaced. "This is going to sound… uncharacteristic, for Sarah, but shouldn't she be hiding out in Tortall, or somewhere? At least until her injuries are taken care of."

"She _did_ go back to Tortall, to get in a few days rest and say goodbye to her boyfriend, who was leaving-"

Leia raised an interested eyebrow, a small smile on her face. "Boyfriend?"

"It's only a new thing, I'm told." Casey let the smile spread to her own face. "I'm told it was quite the conquest – flowers and everything. He's a gardener-"

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Leia had pulled Casey back into the cockpit, a very serious expression on her face, and Sarah sighed. She knew what was coming next – an interrogation from the Chief of State of the New Republic, one in which Casey was bound to break. Well, considering that Casey had promised to reveal all to the woman, it probably wasn't a matter of the attorney breaking, but rather a session of girl chat.

The knight gave them three minutes for Casey to explain the circumstances of her injuries, and what the White Martians had done to her, which was almost definitely what Leia wanted to talk about, before she stood and made her way to the cockpit. Her hand slid over the activation switch for the door, just in time for her to hear Leia's confused voice as the door _whooshed _open.

"He's a gardener?" The woman chose the wrong moment to reiterate the occupation.

"He's a mage that specialises in plants, not a gardener." She replied churlishly as she walked into the cockpit. "Are you quite through with your little gossip session?"

The amusement fell from Leia's face so suddenly Sarah blinked. "Why didn't you tell me what happened?"

"I gave you the abbreviated cliff notes-"

"You barely even _mentioned_ the alien invasion, let alone that you were mentally assaulted-"

"I really, really wish people would stop making a big deal out of that." She cut her off sharply, eyes flashing. "Because it wasn't. Just another injury in the line of duty, blah blah blah-"

"Injuries in the line of duty include things like your little freefall when you were being chased by those stormwings." Casey interrupted Sarah's tirade, her voice soft, eyes sad. "Not what the White Martians did-"

"They were injuries," Sarah glared, gesticulating with her hands for emphasis. "And I got them because I did my duty and protected innocent lives, and the lives of my friends. Ergo, injuries in the line of duty. You know, I think I liked it more when we were talking about Briar."

Leia and Casey shared a glance that held too much understanding for women who barely knew each other, and Sarah's eyes narrowed. Casey, however, took stock of Sarah's mood and changed the subject. To one scarcely better. "Anyway, I'm told Briar's not too bad on the eyes, but he's way too young for me. According to _Black Canary_-"

"Oh I'm gonna throttle her." Sarah promised in a growl, but Casey continued.

"According to Black Canary, he's quite gallant, too. He stayed with Sarah when he could have gone home to safety. And when she was sick he stayed by her side constantly-"

"Really?" Sarah asked, perking up.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Casey asked innocently.

She scowled at the attorney. "He was probably just intimidated by all the muscly men in spandex. Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" Leia asked agreeably, sharing a smile with Casey.

"I don't know… hyperdrive mechanics." Sarah suggested, exasperated.

"I'd prefer to talk about Briar." The attorney revealed. "What kind of a name is that, anyway? It's the name of a thorn-"

"His teacher's name is Rosethorn. His sister's teacher's names are Frostpine, Lark and Niklaren _Goldeye_. It's the names they chose." Sarah was miffed at the tone Casey had taken, immediately jumping to the defence of her new boyfriend and his family. "It's just like Wildcat – you don't pay _her_ out."

"That's because I've met her, and she scares the crap out of me." Casey informed her, startling Sarah into a grin, which faded into a scowl as Leia commented evenly, amusement twinkling in her eyes.

"But you're so quick to jump to his defence. Did he really woo you so thoroughly?"

"At least he isn't a _scoundrel_." Sarah returned, glancing significantly at the door leading to the Chief of State's husband.

"I'm told he has _tattoos_ all over his hands." Casey provided for the other woman, and Leia raised an eyebrow.

"Not a scoundrel, huh? Attracted to the badboys, are we, Sarah?"

Sarah glared at both of the older women and stood in a huff. "If you're going to pay me out, I'm going to hang with the guys. At least _they_-"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, once I tell Han and Chewie about this, you won't be safe _anywhere_ on this ship." Leia teased.

The knight stared for a moment, mouth hanging open. "You… you wouldn't."

"Try me." The mother smiled wickedly, and Sarah's eyes narrowed.

"You're evil. You're both pure evil."

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"As interesting as space travel is," Ziva began, "Is there anything to do on this ship that might be more interesting than staring at bulkheads?"

Captain Han Solo looked up from the comm. unit, speaking to a holographic image of another man, for just long enough to snap, sarcastic, "Yeah, why don't you review your list of suspects for whatever crimes you think Sarah did, and find someone else to set up like a Hutt in an all you can eat spice bust."

Ziva just blinked. "Uh…"

"Just a moment, Luke." Leia, who was sitting next to her husband, spoke to the miniature man quietly first, before turning to Ziva. "You'll forgive him. Sarah's a close family friend, and we don't believe she'd ever do what you've accused her of."

"What's going on?" The tinny voice of 'Luke' came through the room, and could be heard over Ziva's sigh. Gibbs was sitting silently in the corner – she couldn't tell these people that she didn't believe Sarah had killed the dead marines. Instead, she had to bear their hostility, or, in the case of Leia, chilling politeness.

Gibbs, however, had no qualms further _ingratiating _himself with them, and he stood from the corner, making his way to the hologram and speaking to the miniature man. "She's our prime suspect in the murder of three men in our armed forces." When shock didn't pass 'Luke's' face, Gibbs just raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't that surprise you?"

"Anyone else, maybe, but Sarah seems to always manage to get herself in the worst situations." The man's voice was mildly amused. "What proof do you have against her?"

"The circumstances the marines were killed in."

"Is that all?" The man's eyebrows could be seen rising steadily, even on the tiny hologram. "Do you really convict so easily?"

"We do if she did it."

"Oh come on!" Sarah exclaimed from the doorway, Casey having just emerged in front of her. "Do you mind?! Get away from the comm. unit, go on. Go sit in the corner or something and keep your mouth shut. Seriously." Glancing deploringly at the attorney, she asked, "Is it assault if it's committed in another dimension?"

Casey sighed. "Yes, Sarah, it is. But it wouldn't be chargeable in a court of law. Still, I don't suggest-"

"I wouldn't actually." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Besides, the threat of violence doesn't seem to phase this asshole."

"Mature, Sarah." Ziva shook her head. "We are just doing our job."

Sarah turned on the Israeli and shook a finger at her. "No, you aren't. If you were doing your job, you'd be looking into all the possibilities, not just me. I have an alibi for the time of the murders – I was in the middle of a mission where I managed to contract the Ebola virus and get myself half killed by my worst nightmare and a Goddess that wanted to throw me into the equivalent of the realms of hell. Of course, taking the word of the people that _saved your world_ on that just isn't good enough for you. No, people that aren't from your dimension _must_ be liars. Tell you what, David, you and Gibbs sit quietly and stay out of trouble, and I may just take you both back when me and Casey skedaddle. Got it?"

Ziva narrowed her eyes, but the hologram spoke before anyone could react, in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "Perhaps now isn't the best time to discuss the issue. Your investigation will be there when you return, and we need to provide a united front against the kidnappers."

"Ahuh." Sarah sighed. "I shall try and refrain from giving into my violent urges, oh Master of the Force. Your wisdom is ever astounding. It's incredible."

"Those 'violent urges' will lead you down a dark path-"

"Lay off the lectures, Luke, I'm not one of your students, I'm so far from being a Jedi I might as well be a nerf, for all the predictive abilities I have. My power comes from inside _me_, not the Force, so I don't need to hear your lectures on the Dark Side." Sarah glared at the hologram.

"Just because you aren't a Jedi, or a Force sensitive, doesn't mean vindictive actions wouldn't lead you down a dark path-"

"Gods, Luke, give it a rest." Sarah shook her head tiredly. "Do this later, when I have the patience to listen to the entire lecture."

"I don't mean to lecture you, Sarah. That's the last thing I intended." He looked like he wanted to say more, but a red head pushed him out of the way and replaced him in the hologram.

"What's your ETA to the Firkan system? Are you still on track?" Mara Jade asked pointedly.

"Good, good. Let's stick to the important issue." Sarah grinned at the red head, who smirked wickedly in reply.

"I just figured those 'violent urges' would be better exercised against kidnappers and pirates, don't you?" The ex-Emperor's Hand asked innocently. She could hear Luke sigh in the background.

"Probably a good idea." Sarah agreed, before nudging Han. "So what's our ETA?"

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"I wonder what is going on at NCIS." Ziva mused aloud. "They must be wondering where we are."

Sarah glanced over from where she was sitting, speaking quietly with the Wookie and translator droid. "Yeah, probably. I'm assuming Dinozzo's told everyone I kidnapped you, _killed_ you and have strewn your innards across the landscape. Like I said, sorry, but I can't get you home while we're travelling at lightspeed. Just hold tight and hopefully you'll be home tomorrow."

It had been a day since their journey began, and if all went well this time tomorrow Jaina, Jacen and Anakin would be safe and sound on the _Millennium Falcon_, the galaxy would be short one pirate group, and Sarah would take them back to NCIS. If all went well. "Look, if you guys are getting bored, Threepio can tell you the story of the Battle of Endor, or something."

"I do enjoy telling stories." The droid added. "It is one of my functions in the care of the children."

"He does these cool sound effects and everything." Sarah added.

"Bed time stories?" Ziva snorted.

Gibbs was sitting in the corner, quietly, and had been since the day before, getting up only to eat, drink and sleep. Now he flicked a glance at Ziva and raised an eyebrow. "I want to hear it." He stood and sat next to Ziva, murmuring, "We might gain some insight into the dimension we're in."

Threepio turned to the three earthlings completely, and began in his prissy voice, "Han Solo was encased in carbonite; Princess Leia and Chewbacca had been captured in their attempt to rescue him. Master Skywalker gave Artoo Deetoo and I to Jabba the Hutt, as a gesture of good faith…"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n. Alrighty then, here's the next exciting instalment in 'Suspect'. Hope you all enjoy – I'm sitting in the back room at work right now saying to myself… yeah, I have enough time to update. Haha. Read and review, please.**

**Chapter Three: Uh, What Do You Mean, We Just Lost the Starboard Stabiliser?**

The _Falcon_ and the _Jedi's Calm_ were in hiding, behind the fourth planet of the Firkan system, which happened to be the closest to Firkan Five it was going to be all year. Luke had just made contact with the_ Falcon_ again, but the radiation from the gas giant was making it hard to communicate between the two ships. So Han had rigged up a booster from Gods only knew what secondary systems. Sarah _really_ didn't want to know what secondary systems he'd had to butcher to get the job done. With her luck, he'd have used the rear deflectors, and they'd be blown out of the sky while trying to escape.

Mara Jade, Kam Solusar and a Jedi that Sarah had never met before were also on the _Jedi's Calm_ with Luke, participating in the planning session with Han, Leia and Chewie. Sarah was content in sitting the planning session out – it wasn't as though she was an expert on infiltrating pirate bases. She sat around the dejarik table with Casey, Gibbs and Ziva, waiting for the Solos to finish their planning, even as Threepio hovered around the Chief of State and her husband, offering 'helpful' ideas.

"They must really trust you," Gibbs began, sarcastic. "I mean, they don't even include you in the planning."

Sarah just laughed at the man. "I have no experience storming bases on spaceships – heck, the only time I've tried piloting a spaceship, we ended up floating dead in space with diminishing life support. And since we don't know the layout of the base, we can't make a real plan involving that phase of the rescue. As it is, they know me well enough to know that I'm not much for the _planning_ phase of things, I'm more into the _doing_. Besides, they aren't including me because they'd rather I didn't know the plan so they have more of a chance keeping me on the ship during the rescue. Just watch – I'll bet you ten gold nobles that they try telling me I'm too injured to help."

"You'd be a liability to the rescue-"

"The only people I'm a liability to," Sarah interrupted the man firmly, "Are the pirates. Trust me, it takes more than a couple of old injuries to stop me from helping my friends."

As though to prove her point, Sarah stood and made her way over to the quietly consulting trio.

"How're we doing this?" She asked.

"We'll follow Four's curvature until we're facing directly towards Firkan Five." Han began. "The gas giant should shield us from their sensors until we're halfway through their atmosphere. If we go down hot and fast, they won't have enough time to scramble fighters, and we should make it down safely."

"They shouldn't have anything to blow us out of the sky with." Leia added.

"No turbolasers, no torpedo bays, nothing. If they had that, pesky Republic warships could figure out where their hideout is. The best they can do is scramble ships." Han added, with a grin at his wife. "So then we'll land planetside and lock down the ships. I'll set the belly gun to fire on anyone that approaches without keying a remote, which I'll carry. You and your friends can stay and guard them-"

"You owe me ten gold nobles, Gibbs." Sarah called over her shoulder, before turning back to Han. "Not a chance. I'm fine, and I won't let anything happen to Jaina, Jacen and Anakin."

"You're injured. You're arm's in a sling, for crying out loud!"

Angrily, Sarah tore the sling off, letting her left arm hang painfully by her side, trying not to wince. "Try and stop me, Han."

"You try and stop us." Gibbs stood and moved over to the comm. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Told you so." Ziva murmured to Sarah, who shook her head.

"Fine. So long as you're ready to shoot to kill, and follow orders, you can come." Turning to Han, Leia and Chewie she shrugged. "I'm told they're a fair shot, and we can use all the help we can get. Han, weapons."

"Sarah…" Casey trailed off, looking uncertain.

"You stay with the ships and Threepio." Lowering her voice in a stage whisper, she added, "Don't be afraid to tell him to shut up if you have to."

The attorney looked ready to argue, but held her tongue. She knew, from experience in the bowels of the White Martian ship, that she would be a dead weight on the rescue mission.

"Sarah…" Luke's voice came over the comm.

"Luke…" Sarah replied in the same tone of voice. "You all know you don't have a chance at convincing me otherwise. I'm going. I'm not going to let the kids down. This is the second time I haven't been able to stop them from being kidnapped, only this time I wasn't taken with them, and I haven't been able to protect them from the big bad."

"It wasn't your fault." The smuggler said softly.

"I didn't move fast enough, Han." She didn't spare a glance in his direction. "I'm going, whether you like it or not. Got a spare blaster or three?"

He sighed and stood, leaving the room. When he returned, presumably from accessing a secret compartment, he passed over three repeating blasters – the only kind Sarah had been taught to use – and she quickly schooled Ziva and Gibbs on their use. The ex-smuggler and their counterpart ship made their way around the gas giant, before Han, Leia, Chewie and Sarah strapped into seats in the cockpit. Sarah held her breath as they came into sight of the rocky planet. She had to let the breath out slowly as no enemy fighters or freighters lifted off from the planet to attack.

"This might actually work." She remarked evenly, earning a dirty look from Han.

"Of course it's going to work, I came up with the plan, didn't I?"

Sarah and Leia shared a look and tried to hide smiles. "Sure thing, Han, whatever you say." The knight managed to mumble, and he shook his head, muttering about disrespectful youths.

They entered the atmosphere at an insane speed, and when Sarah glanced back, through the open cockpit door, she saw alarm on the earthlings' faces. She tried to reassure them with a grin, but Casey's fingers tightened on her armrests to the point that her knuckles turning white. The Messenger for the Gods rolled her eyes and turned back around, to face out of the viewport.

When the ground was getting closer and closer, Sarah glanced at Han. He wasn't pulling up. "Uh… Han?! Any day now…"

"Not just yet." He grunted. Sarah saw on the sensors that Luke's ship was mirroring the downward plunge.

"Han?" Leia asked, her voice tinged with worry. "You can do this in the _Alderaan_, but the _Falcon_ breaks down regularly, you _do_ remember that, don't you?"

"The _Falcon_ won't break down." He scoffed, pride in his vessel clear in his voice.

Just as he finished those fateful words, there was a rattle, a very audible _clank_, and something came flying off the side of the ship. That's when the siren started squealing. "What the-"

"Oh shit." Sarah thumped her head against the headrest before turning to Han. "You _had_ to say it. You had to say that the _Falcon_ wouldn't break down. You jinxed us!"

He shook a finger at her before turning back to the controls. "No big deal, just the starboard stabilizer."

"The _what?!"_ Leia snapped.

"Uh, Sarah…!" Casey's voice was very nervous, and Sarah glanced back to look at the attorney, who looked positively terrified, with good reason.

"Don't worry, we don't need the starboard stabilizer." She reassured with more calm than she felt. "I've flown a YT-1200 freighter without much more than an engine, remember? And Han here's a much better pilot than me."

"What's going on over there?" Mara Jade's voice came over the comm. "Did you just lose your starboard-"

"Yes, we did." Han grunted. "Hold on." The last was aimed at the occupants of the _Millennium Falcon_, and he pulled upwards on the controls, trying to level out the ship before it hit the ground.

He managed to complete the manoeuvre with only a handful of metres between the belly of the ship and the rocky surface, and an audible sigh of relief was heard throughout the cockpit. Sarah risked a glance back at Casey, who had her head down, seemingly in prayer. When the attorney looked up, Sarah gave her a grin. "See? No big deal."

Casey's mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. Ziva spoke for her, her voice clear but still a little shaky. "Let's not do that again."

"No." Leia agreed, glaring at her husband and smacking him on the arm. "Let's not."

Chewie, in the copilot's seat, growled something and laughed. This made Leia glare harder. "_You thought that might happen?!"_

Han held up his hands, to ward off any more blows and to placate his furious wife. "We were tinkering when the kids were taken, remember? You should know by now what happens when we tinker."

A voice came over the comm, interrupting any response Leia was about to give. "Is everyone alright over there?"

"I think Special Agent Gibbs wet his pants." Sarah replied to Mara's query for everyone, receiving a snicker from Casey, a glare from Gibbs and a covert smile from Ziva. "Apart from that, everyone's okay."

"Well, good, get yourselves out here. We've got a job to do, if you'll remember." The woman snapped, and that seemed to spur everyone into action. They immediately released their crashwebbing and stood. Sarah was first down the ramp, clapping a hand on Luke's shoulder as she passed the waiting Jedi Master. Han and Leia followed, and Ziva, Gibbs and finally Chewie brought up the rear.

A familiar redheaded woman dressed in a flightsuit with a blaster on her left hip, lightsaber on her right and a vibroknife hanging next to it was standing by the boarding ramp of a vaguely familiar space yacht. Standing next to her were two men. The older one she recognized. Kam Solusar, a man who made no effort to conceal his dark past, was a sombre individual who – in Sarah's opinion – sorely needed to develop a sense of humour.

The younger man next to him, maybe Sarah's age, looked like he already had one, and it was put to good use. He gave her a nod, letting half a grin cross his face when she returned it. _He must have heard the comment about Gibbs wetting himself._

"Sarah, this is Kyp Durron, Kyp, this is Sarah Gibson." Kam introduced without preamble.

"She doesn't feel like a Jedi." Kyp stated suddenly.

"That's cause I'm not." Sarah replied with a frown. What kind of a greeting was that?

"The rumours that circulated around the Academy after you left said you were more powerful than Master Skywalker."

"What rumours?" She frowned again. What was this kid on about?

"You split the ground to show us your Gift, remember?" Mara prompted impatiently. "A lot of the younger students thought you must be either a Dark Jedi, to have that kind of power, or that you were just way more powerful than Luke."

"Glad to see the rumour mill travels with me when I hop between dimensions." The knight muttered, before turning to Kyp. "I'm not a Jedi. I use the Gift, which is magic, and comes from _within _me. It's not all encompassing like the Force. Now, I've got some measure of power, I'm not some village hedgewitch, but I doubt my abilities compare to Luke's when he's got all his Jedi-ness going."

"'Jedi-ness'?" Kyp asked, and Sarah shrugged.

"Luke, Mara, Kam, Kyp, this is Special Agent Gibbs and Officer David." Leia interrupted her response firmly. "They're going to be helping. Now we need to get going, I-" Her voice cut off as her face clouded over. A quick glance at the other Jedi confirmed Sarah's suspicion. The woman was sensing something through the Force.

"Leia? Luke? Anyone?" She waved a hand in front of Mara's face, and the redhead snapped out of it just as Leia gasped and staggered backwards, into her husbands waiting and supporting arms.

"There's a Dark Jedi in there, with Jaina, Jacen and Anakin." The woman replied before clearing her throat. "That changes things."

"Yeah, that just means that I'm going to have to kick his ass too before we go rescuing." Sarah shrugged. "Come on, we dealt with Runorlan."

"This guy isn't as powerful as Runorlan." Luke shook his head. Leia had straightened, now Luke nodded to the cave system that was the smuggler group's hideout. "We need to get moving, now. Jaina's in pain, and they're all terrified."

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Halfway through their trot to the caves, they'd come across a ship. Han had frowned, and asked, "Where have I seen that ship before?"

When it was obvious the ship was unoccupied, they continued their journey to the caves, and it became obvious where the occupants of the ship had gone.

"Where are the sentries?" Sarah asked for the fifth time, mostly speaking to herself as she glanced at the entrance to the cave system. The planet was hot, in a dry heat sort of way that made Sarah worry about the amount of radiation pounding down on her from the gas giant high in the sky. Han had told her it wasn't a dangerous amount, not in the terms of the few minutes they'd been out there, but she couldn't help but wonder.

And the uneasiness at the energy bombarding her body translated into uneasiness at the situation. No good strategy for guarding a base camp included forgoing sentries. And yet, there were none posted, at all, outside the caves.

"I have no idea. Maybe our friends in the yacht took care of them, or maybe they're just sloppy." Han answered her previous question, a frown on his face. It was unusual, to say the least. "Oh well, we can only hope they're this sloppy inside, too. Maybe it'll be a quick thing – in, grab the kids, out, back to the _Falcon_."

They had locked the _Falcon_ down completely, with Casey and Threepio inside, just like Artoo had done with the _Jedi's Calm_, the ship the others had brought from Yavin Four.

"Something's fishy here." She heard Gibbs mutter to Ziva.

"I agree." The Israeli answered, and they found their way to the entry of the caves. There was a large stone plug blocking their forward momentum, about two metres in from the cave entrance.

Luke thrust his lightsaber into the plug, but the minute it came in contact with the large stone block it fizzed out. "Short-circuit." He explained. "There must be cortosis ore in the stone."

"What's cortosis ore?" Sarah frowned.

"An energy absorbing stone. It's a good defence against lightsabers." He explained, and Sarah nodded thoughtfully.

"Does it absorb _all_ kinds of energy?" She asked.

"There's only one way to find out." Mara grinned wolfishly at the younger woman, and gestured for everyone to get back.

"Gibbs, _this_ is the kind of thing that happened to your dead Marines." She explained, and gathered her Gift in the palm of her hand. Letting loose, she was shocked to see the stone door still standing. "_What_?"

"It's weakening." Kam said with certainty. "Another hit…"

Nodding, the young Tortallan knight let her magic gather once again. This time, when it came in contact with the stone, the plug shattered, revealing flakes of a black substance that reminded Sarah of flint. "Is that cortosis ore?"

"Yeah." Kyp replied, and paused as bodies came into view. "Well, there are the sentries."

Each of the two bodies sported a blaster wound somewhere on the torso, and a slit throat. It seemed whoever was intruding didn't want to risk the guards getting back up.

Any further conversation was cut off by blaster bolts heading their direction.

"I guess these are the replacement sentries." Sarah muttered to Ziva as they ducked to one side of the entrance, repeating blasters raised to return fire. Unfortunately, they couldn't get a shot around the corner without leaning too far around it.

Four lightsabers snapped on with a hiss, and as one the Jedi stepped out into the stream of blaster fire, blades whirling in a colourful – and dangerous – display of skill as they reflected the bolts back at the new sentries. Soon enough, the whine of blaster fire was silenced.

As one, silently, the group moved into the cave system to begin their search.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

They'd been walking cautiously through the cave system for a few moments when it split off in three directions. "Ooh, fantastic." Sarah's voice was sarcastic. "A fork in the road."

"I thought that only counted when it split off in _two_ directions." Ziva commented lightly.

"Most forks have _four_ prongs, I've seen forks with three prongs." The knight defended her statement. "They were spaghetti forks, we sometimes use them at balls and by the Gods, something actually sank in during those blasted etiquette lessons." She groaned, before looking to Leia. "So who's on what team?"

"Team?" This was from Mara.

"Yes, team." Sarah narrowed her eyes at the woman. "We are _so_ splitting up. Three corridors, three teams. Otherwise the pirates can play hide the kids and escape again while we're searching down the wrong corridor."

Han gave her a look. "Well, how's this then. You go back to the _Falcon_ on the 'guard the ship' team, and we-"

Sarah gave him an unamused look, before snapping her fingers at Gibbs and Ziva. "You two, with me. I want to keep an eye on you. We'll take this corridor." She started walking down the far right corridor without waiting for either of them to follow.

"Is she serious?" Ziva asked Gibbs, almost disbelievingly.

He just stared after her, and Sarah's head turned slightly as she called over her shoulder. "Now, or are you two _big, bad_ NCIS agents scared of a few scawy piwates?" The last was said in a babyish voice, mocking in its entirety.

Mara and Luke glanced at Leia. "What's got her so riled up?" The red head asked.

Leia just shook her head and sighed. "I think she just wants a decent fight to get the tension out of her system. Go with her – keep her out of trouble."

Mara gave her a nod and gave both the NCIS agents a shove, before trotting to catch up to the young woman, who had her blaster up and pointed down the corridor. The NCIS agents hurried to catch up.

Luke's call stopped them all in their tracks, and they turned to see the Jedi Master hurrying towards them. Sarah just raised her eyebrows expectantly, as though to ask why the hell he'd stopped them – they stayed raised for an entirely different reason as he swept Mara up in a passionate embrace, kissing the redhead for all she was worth. And what was more shocking – the woman reciprocated.

By the time they broke apart Sarah's jaw was hanging. The first Jedi in the new order brushed a stray strand of hair out of Mara's face and murmured, "May the Force be with you."

"You too." The redhead returned just as softly, and before Sarah knew it Luke was back with the rest of the pack, and Mara had turned to face the unknown corridor again.

"Let's get moving." The older woman suggested gruffly, and Ziva and Gibbs followed without a question. It was Sarah's turn to stand there and stare, dumbstruck.

When Mara rounded the corner it broke the spell, and the knight raced to catch up. When she caught sight of the woman again, she blurted, "What the _hell_ was that?!"

"Keep your mind on the job, Sarah."

"No – last I heard you were a smuggler's assistant, and a _part time_ Jedi. You barely even liked Luke!" Sarah pestered, jaw stubbornly refusing to close.

"We, well… it's only a new thing." Mara promised. "We only got married a month ago-"

"_Married?!_" Sarah squeezed out. Finally her jaw closed, and her eyes narrowed. "Did my invitation get lost in the mail?" She snarked.

"We had no way of getting in contact with you." Mara reminded her. "Now, we can gossip later, _including_ about your new _friend – _Leia told me. Right now we've got to find the kids and – if it's safe to do so – deal with the Dark Jedi."

Sarah stared at her for a moment longer before giving a curt nod. "Gotcha, oh leader of mine. Lead the way."

Mara shook her head. "This is your party. _You're_ the one that wanted to take this corridor, _you_ lead. That way if anyone gets shot in the ass, it'll be you."

The knight grinned and moved to the forefront of the small group. Ziva and Gibbs took the relative safety of the middle of the group, and Mara brought up the rear, in a diamond formation.

It wasn't long until they encountered their first obstacle, in the form of a seemingly bottomless pit. "What the-"

"These pirates are clever." Mara sighed. "The pit's only two metres wide, but this tunnel is dark enough that you wouldn't notice it until it was too late if you were running from anyone. It's a booby trap – you see how this edge is higher than the other edge? It's a trap to keep people _in_."

"Tricky bastards." Sarah muttered, before sighing. "At least it's an easy enough jump."

"And how do we get back up?" Gibbs pointed out.

"One, I meant _that_, jumping _back_ over here, would be an easy enough jump." Sarah smirked at the man, before shrugging. "Besides, there's got to be some way for them to get from _there_ to _here_. There's a control panel somewhere over on that side."

"Do you want to bet your life on that?" Ziva pointed out.

"I'm willing to bet _yours_." Sarah replied easily. "Now stop arguing. We're heading over there. If you're going to argue every step of the way, I'm going to leave your asses here." And with that, she and Mara jumped over the gap in almost perfect unison.

Gibbs and Ziva shared a look before replicating the jump, with considerably less grace.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Leia, Luke and Kam made their way down the middle corridor in silent agreement, leaving Han, Kyp and Chewie to take the far left.

"You chose an interesting way of breaking the news to Sarah." Leia commented lightly after a few moments of quick walking.

"Breaking the news? I… that's right, she didn't know…" Luke's voice was distracted with the mission. "Oh well, she knows now."

Kam chuckled softly at the Jedi Master, but it was cut off as four armed ruffians stepped out from an enclave in the wall. Just as they opened fire, Mara's voice came over the comm. links. "They've booby trapped the entire place, expect the unexpected."

"Thanks, Mara." Leia replied dryly, her blaster firing as Luke and Kam deflected the shots. "We noticed."

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"Need help, Your Highnessness?" Han asked with concern as his wife's voice came over the comm, echoed with the sound of blaster fire and swinging lightsabers.

"We're alright, Han." Luke promised.

"Well, good. You look after my wife, you hear?"

"Yes, Han." The Jedi Master's voice was almost bored. "I'll make certain to take care of _my sister_."

Han frowned. "Well… good."

"Cut the comm. chatter, people." Mara's voice was stern. "Let's not give the pirates more of an advantage than they already have."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

_Because idle chatter will reveal all our plans._ Sarah rolled her eyes, but didn't comment. She would have made the same call as Mara if she were leading a group of Guardsmen in hunting down raiders or spidrens. They were making their way deeper into the corridor, and deeper into the ground as they overcame more of the pit traps. They weren't stupid – they'd checked for a control panel hidden in the sheer rock walls after the first one, and found them. Now they ran into a different kind of trap – a large laser turret mounted into the wall, it unfolded itself and began firing as soon as it sensed their presence.

Mara's lightsaber was up and deflecting the bolts as soon as the first bolt soared overhead, but the effort of deflecting such powerful beams took its toll on the woman as it forced her arms back once, twice, three times with the powerful backlash. The fourth time, and it forced her arms completely out of guard position, and Sarah had to raise a hasty shield to stop the next beam.

Gasping when the laser hit her shield – it was _very_ powerful – she glanced at Mara. "Do you want to do something about this thing? I can't hold the shield very long – that thing packs a more powerful punch than a blaster."

"You're shield-"

"Is unidirectional. Just – throw your lightsaber, or something. _Quick!_" Sarah gritted out through clenched teeth.

Mara didn't waste another second as she focused on the lightsaber, using the Force to guide it. All too soon the laser cannon was a pile of slag, and Sarah let out a breath of relief. "Let's not make it a habit of running into those things."

"No, let's not." The redhead agreed, working her shoulder, a grimace on her face, before she thumbed on her comm. unit and warned the others about the laser cannons in the corridors.

The corridor ahead curved to the right softly, and as they reached the bend Sarah swore. "A dead end?!"

"Maybe not." Mara shook her head, creeping forward, blaster up and aimed. "There may be a control panel at the end of the corridor to open up a door or something. Come on."

As a tightly knit group, they walked forward. And as a tightly knit group, they seemingly _fell_ through the floor…

They didn't fall, so much as slide down a nearly forty five degree angle, on a slope littered with small pieces of rock. Another booby trap. With the 'floor' above them, and the ground below coming up quickly, Sarah tried to get her feet under her, to slow herself down. Her mistake.

_"Shit!_" The woman yelled as she launched herself through the air in an uncontrolled somersault. Trying desperately to gather some measure of control over her freefall, she twisted so she could see the ground – and saw it entirely too close for comfort. Nevertheless she tried to curl into a ball and roll with the impact, succeeding only partially.

Sarah lay there groaning for a moment, fire blazing in her shoulder and down her back, even as Mara slid to a graceful stop at the bottom of the miniature rockslide. Gibbs and Ziva fared no better than Sarah – the woman's feet caught at the bottom of the slide, and she tumbled for a few metres before landing flat on her face. Gibbs kept his feet above ground level, and as a result didn't tumble – he kept sliding for about a metre more, before scrambling to his feet to help Ziva stand.

Mara did the same for Sarah, an eyebrow raised. "I thought you were supposed to be this expert fighter – don't you know how to roll with the punches? Why did you try to _stand_ up there?"

"We were coming down too fast. Not everyone has the benefit of the Force to slow themselves, and I didn't want _that_ to happen." Sarah gave a nod to Ziva, who was grasping her left wrist in her right hand as Gibbs gently turned it over, to examine it.

Noticing Sarah's attention, Ziva called, "It is nothing serious. A small sprain, nothing more."

"Can you still shoot with your right hand?" Mara asked, and the Mossad attaché nodded.

"Definitely."

Sarah turned to look back up at the top of the hill. "How the hell did we miss the gigantic booby trap?"

Mara gave a nod to two unusual devices sticking out from the wall. "The ground was a hologram."

They were interrupted from further discussion when the sound of scuffling and light swearing came down the corridor from right angled turn. They quickly hugged the wall, blasters raised, even as they heard the sound of a child struggling. "Let me go!"

Mara gave Sarah a look, and mouthed, 'Jaina'. The knight gave her a nod and pushed away from the wall. There was a time for caution and hiding against the wall, but that would more or less invite the pirate to use the girl as a human shield.

Instead, Sarah strode down the corridor, flicking the setting of her blaster to a very low 'stun', just in case. She held the blaster at chest level. She could hear the pirate straining with the struggling nine year old. "Stop it, ya little brat! We're headin' for the ships, and we're getting out of here. It's too hot with that redheaded bitch runnin' round, killing people."

Sarah didn't spare a glance back to know that Mara was confused at the statement too – she hadn't been running around killing people. That left the owners of the other ship as the perpetrators. Sarah gave a mental shrug and kept walking quietly, even as she heard the pirate yell out in pain. "That's it, ya little brat-"

"Let me go! My mama and papa are going to be here soon, and you're gonna wish you'd never-"

That was when they turned the corner, and the pirate ran smack bang into Sarah. He blinked, and she gave him a chilling smile. "You're gonna _wish_ I was her mother or father."

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Yar, Me Matie**

Sarah changed her tactics last minute, grabbing the blaster pistol the pirate held with one hand, and yanking Jaina away with the other. She used a pressure point in the pirate's wrist to make him drop the blaster before twisting his wrist around, forcing him into a submissive position on his knees, her blaster to his head.

Or at least, that's what she _would_ have done, if he hadn't been a kidnapping bastard, bent on stopping her from rescuing Jaina. If he _hadn't_ been a pirate that aided and abetted the torment of three children near and dear to Sarah's heart, she would have shown him mercy. Instead she grabbed his wrist, sliding her finger behind the trigger. A quick shot to his throat made him let go of Jaina in shock, and Sarah angled her body to protect the child.

She used her free hand to grab the same arm that held to blaster, just below the elbow, and broke his arm savagely, drawing a scream from the man, before throwing him over her hip. But she didn't let him go, she forced him down to the grounded harder than gravity would have done, knee on his rib. Then she drew her blaster again, still set on a low stun, and shot him at point blank range.

When she stood and straightened, looking for Jaina, the girl grabbed her and hugged her tightly. Sarah was shocked to notice the brunette came halfway up her abdomen, almost to her shoulder. She'd grown half a foot since Sarah had last seen her – that was when Sarah realised she hadn't visited in over a year.

_I can't let things get away from me anymore, not if I want to keep the people I care about in my life._ She realised with a sigh, before prying the girl away from her and crouching, looking her in the eye. "Are you alright?"

The girl nodded bravely. "How'd you know we were in trouble?"

"The Goddess warned me. Did they hurt you? Your mother and uncle said there was a Dark Jedi around here somewhere – did _he_ hurt you?"

Jaina bit her lip, looking down the corridor, back the way she came. "They didn't hurt me, but…" She trailed off, looking uncertain.

"What is it, sweetie?" Sarah pried, anger simmering below the surface. They didn't hurt her, _but_? Someone was going to pay for the _but_.

"The Dark Jedi liked scaring us." Jaina spoke softly. Sarah was about to respond when the man on the ground groaned, beginning to wake up.

"We'll talk about it later, alright Jaina?" Sarah gave her a gentle shove towards Mara. "Go, stand near your _Aunt_ Mara. I have to find out where your brothers are."

When the girl made her way over to the redhead, and Mara had tugged Jaina behind her, Sarah flicked the power setting on her DL-44 repeating blaster. The pirate had just opened his eyes when she pressed the barrel to his forehead, right between his eyes.

"Tell me how to get past your booby traps." Were the first words out of her mouth.

He blinked a few times, as though still waking up, and tried to free himself from her grasp, grabbing the hand that held him down, trying to pry her fingers away with his good arm. "This blaster isn't set on stun anymore. I'm not asking again. How do we get past your slippery slide?" Her voice dripped with contempt. "Trust me, I'll do it. I have no sympathy for a man who kidnapped a _nine_ year old. And I'm sure if we come across one of those pits any time soon, your body won't be found for years."

He was sweating. "Look, I didn't mean-"

"I don't care. _Answer my questions._" Sarah felt Mara crouch next to her, and glanced backwards, to see Gibbs push Jaina behind him.

"This is taking too long, Sarah. Just shoot him, we'll find out own way out." The redhead gave her a nod and a quick grin.

Sarah just shrugged. "Alright. Well, you had your chance-"

"Wait! There's a secret passageway about two thirds of the way to the slip-slippery slide?" He sounded confused at Sarah's name for the trap. "It leads to a set of stairs, that'll lead back up to the passageway."

"And where are the other boys?" Sarah pressed.

"In the holding areas, unless someone's grabbed them-"

"Thanks." Sarah stepped backwards carefully, mirroring Mara, and shot him anyway. On stun, of course. When she turned around she gave a nod to the two earthlings. "Having fun yet? We might as well keep going – the holding cells must be down there somewhere."

"They split us up." Jaina supplied helpfully, and Sarah turned her full attention to the girl.

"You said the Dark Jedi was scaring you on purpose?"

"I think he got more powerful when he did." Jaina explained in a small voice, and the woman felt her eyes narrow. "Please, I don't want to talk about it…"

Holding her arms out, she crouched to Jaina's height. "Come here." When the girl obliged, Sarah stood, lifting her and ignoring her screaming shoulder. "Can you point him out if we run across him?"

The girl peered at Sarah's face, a confused expression on her own. "Why?"

"I need to know who to kill." Sarah muttered, before sighing. "Let's just find the boys."

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"We've got Jaina." Mara's voice came over the comm., and Leia felt the tight band around her chest loosen slightly. One of her children was safe. "A pirate was trying to spirit her away to safety. Apparently there's been a 'redheaded bitch murdering people'."

"Mara-"

"It wasn't _me_. Just ask Sarah, she's been with me the entire time." Mara leapt to her own defence.

"I wasn't going to say that." Luke shook his head in amusement. "I was going to say, _watch out_ for the redhead."

"Who do you think you're talking to, Farmboy? Sarah's new friends? I know how to take care of myself." Leia heard scorn on her voice.

"Can I speak to Jaina?" Han's voice was heard over the comm., and Mara sighed.

"In a minute. We've just got to deal with the delivery boy."

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"Hey, sweetheart, how are you doing?" Han's voice was soft over the comm., Sarah could barely hear it as Jaina held it to her mouth.

"I'm okay, papa. Have you got Anakin and Jacen yet?"

"Not yet, sweetheart. So you're okay? No injuries, you're not hurt at all?" The exsmuggler's voice was almost anxious.

"I'm fine. Aunt Mara, Sarah and her two friends who she _still_ hasn't introduced yet saved me from the pirate." Jaina giggled as Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Well well, Little Miss Nosy, if you really want to know, that's Gibbs and Ziva. They heard you were in trouble, and they just had to come to help." Sarah shot a look at the two NCIS agents, and smirked.

Gibbs shot her a glance before nodding to Jaina. "We don't like it when people kidnap children."

The girl sat up in Sarah's hold, causing the knight to wince at the strain the different position took on her shoulder. "I hope not. You'd be a bad person if you did."

Sarah choked back a laugh even as Gibbs gave an uncharacteristic chuckle. "I suppose you're right."

Jaina turned back to Sarah, a frown on her face. "He's weird."

"I know. Just put up with it." The knight couldn't keep the grin off of her face. It was good to have the girl safe.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

They'd just rounded yet another corner in the labyrinth when the sound of small running feet met Sarah's ears. She shared a look with Mara before passing Jaina back to Gibbs. Just in time, as the sound of blasters whining came down the corridor towards them. "It sounds like it's just around this bend." Sarah muttered to Mara.

The redhead nodded and Sarah gestured for Gibbs and Ziva to stay back, behind the corner with Jaina. When they stepped out into the corridor, Mara with her lightsaber ignited, Sarah with a shield ready, the sight they saw startled them. It wasn't Jacen, or Anakin running, but a redheaded child in lizard skin armour. _No way has _she_ been the one running around killing people…_ She ran towards them, pirates with blasters set on stun chasing after her. Lucky for the kid, who could be no older than Jaina, they weren't very good shots.

Sarah put up a shield, blocking any shots from hitting the girl. That didn't stop her from running straight at Sarah, fist drawn back ready to punch the woman. Which made it fortunate the pirates had seen the bright crimson shield and realised something was wrong, running the other way. "Whoa, calm down!" The knight hurriedly blocked punch after punch before grabbing the girl's hands and forcing her arms down to her sides. "I'm not going to hurt you – calm down!"

Instead of listening, the girl launched a kick at Sarah's chest, forcing her to either let go or cop a broken rib. The knight kept a hand on one of the girl's arms and spun her around, about to pick her up when the cool blade of a knife pressed to the skin behind her ear. "Let my daughter and the daughter of Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo go."

"I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding." Sarah replied evenly, voice calm even as she inwardly winced at the situation. "I'm not harming your daughter, I was merely trying to help."

"What of the Solo child? Why does your male friend not let her go?" The knife increased its pressure on her skin, but Sarah held her ground and carefully let go of the young girl.

"Gibbs, let Jaina go."

"No." The man replied. "She's staying behind me."

"Just do it-"

"No. How do we know they aren't pirates, looking to recapture them?"

"I'm rather fond of hearing, Gibbs." Sarah replied through clenched teeth.

Mara's voice came, muffled by the stone wall – Sarah assumed she was pressed against it. "Hey, kid. They actually your parents, or are they just trying to kidnap you again?"

"Mother, father." The girl nodded, and Sarah could hear a struggle from behind her.

"Jaina, stop squirming-"

"Was that Tenel Ka?"

"Jaina, my friend." The girl gave a grave nod to the brunette.

"Gibbs, let me go! These guys are friends."

"Sarah?" The man deferred to Sarah.

"I already told you to, didn't I? They've got the drop on us, I just hope Jaina's right." Sarah sighed. "I'm never going to live this down."

"Child, come here." The voice holding the knife commanded.

"Teneniel Djo, Sarah's a friend of mine, and Mara's my Aunt. Tell your husband to stop pointing the blaster at her." Jaina's voice was almost humoured, and Sarah narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, kid, don't you go telling your parents about this. I'll never live it down." The blade was removed from behind Sarah's ear, and she stood carefully, arms held by her side and hands open and weaponless. When she turned, she was looking into the fierce green eyes of another redheaded woman who was still in the motion of resheathing a vicious looking dagger. Sarah gave the woman a half smile. "Nice blade."

"It is functional."

Sarah looked the woman up and down, noting the similar armour to the young girl. "Oh, now don't tell me you're a warrior people that don't appreciate the value of a shiny, pretty knife."

The woman gave her a slow blink, and Sarah sighed. "Right. I guess you _don't_. Alright, well, your girl's safe, we've still got two boys to rescue, I believe in safety in numbers but I'll understand if you want to skedaddle off in your pretty space yacht and get your kid to safety."

"Who else is here looking for the Solos?" The man asked.

"Well… the Solos." Sarah replied. "As well as their uncle, Chewie and a couple of other Jedi."

"And just who are _you_?" The man asked Sarah suspiciously.

Sarah held her hands up placatingly as Jaina answered. "She's Sarah. We met her two years ago-"

"Let's just leave it at 'family friend', eh Jaina?" Sarah raised her eyebrows expectantly. "That other little part about my life isn't public knowledge here."

"But-"

"No buts. I'd prefer anonymity here anyway, if at all possible." Sarah sighed. "Things go downhill when everyone finds out who I am."

"But we can trust-"

"_You_ can. I don't even know their names." The knight pointed out firmly. "Now, we're leaving it at 'family friend' until I'm a little better acquainted."

"What do you mean, 'things go downhill when everyone finds out who you are'?" Mara asked, and Sarah jerked her thumb at Gibbs and Ziva.

"Ask them. They saw my press conference."

"Press conference?" The redhead's mouth spread into a smile.

"I'd like an answer to my question." The man spoke quietly.

"My name is Sarah. That's all you need to know about me – after all, it's more than I know about you. Now we've bickered enough – we've got at least two more kids to rescue."

"Mother, father, I'd like to help Jacen Solo if I can."

"Look, kid, I can tell you've got some skills with your hands and feet, but-"

"Do not presume to belittle my daughter's training." Teneniel Djo began icily, and Sarah held up her hands again.

"Calm down, what I'm saying is that she's what, nine? Ten? These guys have blasters, and they're more than willing to use them. These guys have a _Dark Jedi_. Heck, I didn't even want to bring these two on this little sojourn of ours." At this Sarah nodded to Gibbs and Ziva. "Do _you_ think a kid's got what it takes to bring down pirates? Because you obviously know her better than me, but-"

"Mother, she's right." Tenel Ka's voice was small. "She blocked all my punches, even my kick."

At this, Sarah laughed. When the young redhead turned to glare, she shook her head, unable to wipe the grin off her face. "Kid, unless I'm busy on rescue missions and whatnot, I'm training at least five hours a day with and without weapons. Don't go comparing yourself to me – I'm not your standard measuring stick. You could still kick Gibbs' a- butt. You could still kick Gibbs' _butt_."

"You think well of yourself." Djo commented abruptly.

"Well… yeah." Sarah shrugged and grinned. "Comes from a duelling record of zero defeats and Gods only know how many wins."

"She has a real way with people, too." Mara commented lightly. "So are we just going to stand around and chat, or…"

"Gotcha." Sarah gave the woman a nod and picked up her blaster. Then she held out her hand to Jaina. "Come on, let's go rescue your brothers. How lazy can they be, I mean, you and Tenel Ka here were as good as escaped already. What are they doing, lazing around in their cells?"

The girl gave a little giggle as she took Sarah's hand, but Teneniel Djo interceded, a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Let me take the Solo child. We will take her safely to our ship while you aid Leia Organa and her companions in rescuing the other two Solo children."

Sarah winced and glanced at Mara. "Sorry, really, I am. But we just rescued Jaina, and… well, truthfully, I just don't trust you. You'll understand if I don't want to leave her life in the hands of a woman that I only just met."

"She will be safer with us."

"Yeah, well, forgive my ego, but she's safest with _me_ until we can get her back to her parents." Sarah gave a patient look. "I have a lot of experience in guiding rescuees around underground caverns without them getting hurt. Heck, I only did it _last week_."

"Let's settle this the easy way." Mara interrupted Teneniel Djo's reply. She pulled out her comlink and flicked it on. "Leia, Sarah's taking Jaina to Tortall, alright? Oh, and we found the red head the pirate was on about. Jaina says she's Teneniel Djo – apparently her kid was nabbed too."

"Tenel Ka's here?" Sarah could almost hear the frown on Leia's voice. "Mara, if Teneniel Djo agrees, can you get Sarah to take Tenel Ka with her to Tortall? It'd be safest for both of the children-" At this, Teneniel Djo drew her daughter against her body, her eyes flashing.

"If she will not entrust your child to the hands of a _stranger_, why should I entrust mine?"

"Look, lady, Sarah's saved our kids lives more times than I can count-"

"It was only twice, Han." Sarah interrupted, amused. "And that's _including_ this time. Of course, let's continue this argument, I think the pirates must know where we are by now."

"That's not a laughing matter, Sarah-" Luke began.

"It is for me. I'm in the mood for a good fight. Not a scuffle – they don't last long enough." She winked at Jaina, who giggled.

"Queen Mother," Leia began diplomatically. "It will be safest for your daughter where the pirates cannot ever find her. Sarah can take her there, but only if you trust us."

"She does not look like someone who can keep our daughter safe." The warrior woman eyed Sarah as she spoke softly. "Her stance is sloppy, her-"

"Shoulder has a hole through it, her other arm has burns all down it and her back has gashes made from the biggest damn dog you will ever see." Sarah interrupted sweetly. "And need I remind you, I have won every duel I have ever competed in, most of them against men three times my size who thought just because I'm a woman I'm weak. Trust me, I can fight." She carefully forgot to mention the _matches_ against Mara when she first arrived in that dimension, and the matches against Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, where she might not have won. After all, they weren't duels, so it wasn't a lie. "Look, it's your kid's life at stake here, not mine, so I can't make the decision for you. But Leia's alright with it, so I'm taking Jaina."

"Wait a minute, Sarah-" Leia's voice came through the comm., as Sarah hoisted Jaina.

"Here, kiddo, say goodbye to your mother and father." Sarah passed her her comlink, and Jaina spoke quietly to her parents for a few moments before passing it back. "You ready?"

"Ahuh." Jaina gave a nod and Sarah looked over the young girl's head to the redheaded warrior and her husband.

"Last chance." They shook their heads, and Sarah sighed. "Alright, fine." And with that, she was gone.

The moment she disappeared, Isolder started forward, as though to stop her. When he realised he was too late, he grimaced. "We should have said yes."

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Sarah reappeared at the dais of the ballroom, right beside King Jonathan's throne, where he was sitting. "Hello King O' King of mine." She gave him a big grin, and dumped Jaina on his lap. "Would you mind looking after Jaina for me for a little while?" At this she turned to Jaina, mock stern. "And you, heed your Uncle Jon's wishes, alright?"

Jon gave her a look that she correctly interpreted as 'What the hell is going on' and Sarah gave him a falsely bright smile. "What? You're as good as her uncle – you call Leia your 'Royal Cousin'. Alright, fine. Jaina, honey, heed your second cousin's wishes, alright?"

Jaina giggled and got down from Jon's lap, giving the man a wobbly bow, at which Sarah scowled. Jon just gave Sarah a look. "Sarah, what's going on-"

But she was already gone. Jon sighed and gave Jaina a look. "And what trouble have you and your brothers been getting into this time?" He asked with a smile.

"The usual." Jaina replied with a nervous one of her own.

"Ah." Jon pursed his lips and looked the girl up and down. The ball was standing still, everyone staring at the dais, and the king realised Jaina was dirty and pale.

Thayet saw it too, and stood from her seat next to Jon. "Come on, Jaina. We'll get you some clean clothes and some dinner, alright?"

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Sarah reappeared in the cave system, where Mara was waiting expectantly. "Finally. These two wanted you to take Tenel Ka, too."

"Make up your mind." Sarah muttered as she looked Teneniel Djo and Isolder over. "Do you really want a stranger disappearing with your daughter?"

"The Chief of State trusts you with hers." The man pointed out, before turning to his daughter. "Tenel Ka, I know you may not _want-_"

"I wish to stay with you, Father, and help rescue my friends."

"Daughter, now is not the time." The woman scolded. "You will have other opportunities to prove your skills as a warrior. Now, however-"

The child hung her head. "I will heed your wishes."

"Alright, it's settled." Sarah held out her hand to the young warrior, mirroring the gesture she had offered Jaina. "Let's go." When the girl just stared at the outstretched hand, Sarah sighed, and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder.

When she reappeared in the ballroom, to see Thayet leading Jaina out into a corridor, and Jon standing talking quietly to Raoul and Gary. When she cleared her throat, he turned, and the somewhat concerned look on his face turned into an amazed acceptance – acceptance of her eccentricities. "Got another one for you. Tenel Ka, meet King Jonathan the Fourth of Tortall. Jon, meet Tenel Ka. Tenel Ka, mind these people like you would your parents, they're only trying to help. I'll be back no later than a few hours from now."

When Sarah disappeared, Tenel Ka could hear Jon sigh gustily. "She can be so aggravating when she wants to be."

"This is a fact." Tenel Ka nodded soberly, causing Jon's face to break out into a small smile.

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When Sarah reappeared the second time, it was to stares from Isolder and Teneniel Djo. "What?"

"Where did you take them both?"

Sarah shared a glance with Mara, and in the time it took for them to communicate silently that no, perhaps now _wasn't_ the best time for that conversation, Gibbs had already started talking. "I'm assuming it was to another dimension. That's where she goes when she disappears."

While Sarah glared at the man, Isolder floundered for something to say. Finally, he managed, "_What?!"_

"Thanks, Gibbs." Sarah muttered as she started down the corridor again. "We don't have time for an explanation, and you managed to tell them the one thing that _needs_ an explanation."

Teneniel Djo stopped her forward momentum with a tight hand on her shoulder. "What did he mean?"

"Very long story very short, I'm a dimension hopper. I travel between dimensions – I took them to the one that I call home. Trust me, Jaina and Tenel Ka couldn't be in safer hands right now. But we still have two boys to rescue, so if you wouldn't mind…?" The knight gave a nod down the corridor, and when they started walking again, various weapons raised, she muttered under her breath, "I'm gonna kill Gibbs when we get out of this."

They continued deeper into the labyrinth that was the pirate base, with Teneniel Djo and Isolder on Sarah's right, Gibbs and Ziva behind them, and Mara bringing up the rear. It was just a moment before the native man started his interrogation. "You're from another-"

"Yes. Let's keep it under our hats though, alright? I'd rather not discuss it in nest of pirates." Sarah snarked. "I'll explain it all later."

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"Papa!" A small voice cried from behind the bars of a cell. Anakin's voice quavered with relief at the sight of his father, his grubby little hands stretching towards the man.

"Anakin!" Han grasped the boy's hands through the bars. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you-"

"I'm okay, but I want to go home." The boy's blue eyes were clear of tears, but his voice was choked up, as though he would burst into tears at any moment. The sound created a warm buzz of anger in Han's heart.

"We've just got to get you out of here and collect your brother, and we can go home, alright? We'll have you out in a second."

"What about Jaina?" The boy asked.

"Your Sarah and Mara have already got her. Sarah took her back to Tortall." Han explained.

"Sarah's here with you? And Aunt Mara?"

"And your mother, your Uncle Luke and Kam Solusar. And three people Sarah brought with her." The exsmuggler confirmed.

Chewie was already hotwiring the door, trying to rig it to open. After just a few moments trying, the Wookie roared in annoyance, ripping out the wires in an attempt to force the door open. It didn't work. He growled plaintively, as though to say 'it's not _my_ fault'.

"Way to go, furball." Han muttered. "Of course the safety overrides were programmed out of these doors! It's a pirate base!"

"Han, calm down." An amused voice came from behind the pair. "Are you forgetting I'm here? Anakin, buddy, stand back."

Kyp stepped forward, lightsaber in his hand, as the young boy stepped back from the bars. A few slices from the blade and Anakin was free, leaping into his father's arms. "Come on, let's go find your mother."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Jacen had barely let the bars hit the ground before leaping into his mother's arms. Luke extinguished his blade, placing a hand on his nephew's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Are Aunt Mara and Sarah here as well?" Jacen asked when he pulled back from his mother.

"Yes, they are. How did you know?" Leia asked her son, holding him at arms length.

"I could tell from Jaina. They felt familiar." The boy explained. Before Leia could respond, Han's voice came over the comm.

"We have Anakin."

"We just found Jacen." Leia said in reply. "Meet at the entrance."

"Sounds good." Mara's voice this time. "See you in – Sithspawn!"

"Mara?!"

"Mara can't talk right now. Get the kids out of here – we've got a Dark Jedi to take care of." Sarah yelled into the comm., before disconnecting.

TBC….

I'm sorry, I'm a fan of cliffies. Only when I'M the one that's writing them, I hate reading them. I know, hypocritical, but too bad. blows raspberry

I'll try to update soon (I SHOULD be doing uni work, but hey :D)


	5. Chapter 5

I am sooooo sorry for the long wait! I have reasons, I swear! 1) I had writers block from that damn cliffie – I have learnt the evil of my ways! No more cliffies (at least for a little while) because they leave you with very few places to go to in the story! I'm sorry! 2) when I overcame that dastardly disease, and began writing… my computer reset itself. And I hadn't saved my progress, so I lost about 4 pages in word… but they were 4 good pages! Anyway, I'll stop complaining. Hope you enjoy, read and review, feedback is ALWAYS encouraged and encouraging.

Thanks to Sandy, sportygirl and dares to dream for the reviews and feedback!

**Chapter Five: Dances With Death**

Teneniel Djo, who had insisted on taking point on their sojourn through the pirate base, was the first to notice the Dark Jedi – when she received a full blast of Force lightning in the chest. Mara had just confirmed their retreat to the _Falcon_ and the ship from the Academy when the witch from Dathomir fell back with a strangled cry.

"Sithspawn!" Mara yelled, dragging the other redhead behind her and dropping the comlink attached to her lapel. She raised her lightsaber and ignited the blade immediately as she stepped in front of the group, ready to defend against anymore attacks.

Sarah, who had just explained the situation to Leia and Han over the comlink, stepped to the Jedi's shoulder, raising her blaster. Gibbs and Isolder dragged a recovering Teneniel Djo farther away from the action as Sarah tried firing on the Dark Jedi, while Mara blocked his attacks.

Sarah came close to hitting, but something the man did seemed to bend the bolts before they hit him. She kept firing doggedly, gritting her teeth. That was, until her blaster grew unbearably hot, and she had to throw it down the hall before it exploded. "Blasters away!" She yelled at Gibbs, Ziva and Isolder, while shaking her throbbing hand. "He's doing something to blow them up!" _Gods, I need a lightsaber. I could _so_ deal with this guy if I had a sword that wouldn't melt when faced with the technology from this dimension._

Instead, Sarah stepped to the side, allowing Mara to cover the smaller group more effectively even as the knight wrapped herself in a shield. _I guess I'm doing this the hard way._ "Get the others back to the ships. I'll keep this guy busy."

"_What?!_" Mara snapped, even as the Dark Jedi abandoned his attempts to kill them from a distance, drawing his own brilliant red blade. "Not for all the spice on Nal Hutta. Get your friends to-"

"Not happening, Mara." Sarah gave the woman a tight grin before glancing over her shoulder. "Isolder, you, Gibbs and Ziva get your girl to safety and meet up with the others. We'll be right behind you when we're finished with this guy."

He looked like he was about to argue, until Sarah gave him a full blown glare. Instead, he pursed his lips and slung his wife over his shoulder. Gibbs stared at Sarah, even as she turned away and began gathering her Gift for an attack. The knight felt his gaze boring into her skull for another few moments, before she heard both NCIS agents trot after Isolder in flanking positions.

Sarah let loose with her Gift as soon as the others were clear, blasting at the Dark Jedi with raw power. Sure, it was wasteful, but if it worked the threat would be neutralised, and if it didn't she could absorb the power back into herself. It was _her_ Gift, regardless of whether it resided in her body, or out.

Unfortunately, the man raised a hand, still stalking forward with his lightsaber ignited, and the attack seemed to wash right off of him. _Fine.__ I have to do something _controlled?She thought as she called the power back to her. _We'll see how you handle _that_, Sparky._ He was almost within striking range with his lightsaber, and Sarah took and involuntary step back, falling into a deep fighting stance. Mara, for her part, stood her ground, lightsaber raised in a defensive stance Sarah recognized from her bout with the redhead.

_Alright.__ Words of Power are out, we're underground._ Sarah bit her lip as she tried to think of a spell that wouldn't wash off the man like water. "Hey, Sparky. You seem to like the elements of nature so much, ever try fire?" She was being childish, and Alanna would probably belt her across the back of the head for goading the enemy, but she couldn't help it. In the short time she'd known him, Green Arrow had taught her the value of a good quip. So what if she still needed practice…

She put her Gift where her mouth was, and called a ball of flame to her hands, before sending it at a blistering pace towards the Dark Jedi. She was rewarded when the arm of his black robe caught alight, and he let out a roar of agony. "You'll pay for that, child. You will pay for that dearly."

Sarah's eyes narrowed as he leapt forward, ready to scorch him again, seeing as the attack seemed to be effective, but Mara intercepted the downward swinging blade with her own, before launching into an attack that had the Dark Jedi on the back foot. Sarah took the opportunity to gather her magic into a larger attack without unduly wasting power.

The Dark Jedi attacked Mara with a ferocious arc at her midsection, which the redhead blocked hastily, countering with a diagonal slash at the man's neck. Mara had to abandon the attack as the Dark Jedi let loose with Force lightning, singeing her briefly, before the woman could get her sword up to block it. The man kicked her in the gut with enough force to send her stumbling back and began to advance on the woman, who had caught herself on the wall and was straightening painfully.

Sarah stepped forward, ready to defend Mara until was able to defend herself, but instead of pressing his advantage, the Dark Jedi turned and stalked down the corridor. About to follow, Sarah pulled up short when a veritable _legion_ of pirates came running down the corridor towards the fight. Sparky leapt over the hoards in a move that simply _had_ to be helped along by the Force, and Sarah swore. "We can't take care of that many, not in a space like this." As she spoke she flicked her wrist and focused on the Gift gathered there, sending it in a shield reaching from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, blocking the pirates – and their weapons – from reaching them.

"Let's just get out of here." Mara's voice was strained, and she was still hunched over slightly. She looked angry at herself for even making the suggestion, but she turned with Sarah and began the trek back through the corridors, towards their ships.

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They flew from the entrance of the pirate base, barely pausing when they noticed the Dathomiri ship taking off.

Sarah kept running, but raised the comm. to her mouth, a slight frown on her face. "Don't they want their kid back?"

"We're rendezvousing someplace friendlier." Han explained. "You two close?"

"ETA two minutes." Sarah replied, and dropped the comm., focusing on running.

When they reached the two ships, Mara took off up the ramp of the Jedi Academy's ship, while Sarah bounded up the ramp of the _Falcon_. She found Jacen and Anakin in the main hold with Leia, who had a sober look on her face. "The pirates won't make it easy getting out of here."

"Gotcha." Sarah placed a hand quickly on the boys' shoulders, and with a flash they were in the ballroom. She saw Jon on the dais, a shocked look on his face, but didn't wait to explain, leaving the two boys standing, bewildered, as a very confused King approached them. When she reappeared on the _Falcon_, she gave a nod to Leia before making her way to a seat in the cockpit next to Casey, who gave her a small, strained smile.

"Not so fast Sarah, Han needs you in the turrets with me." Leia gave a nod down the corridor, and Sarah's jaw dropped.

"Huh? Why not Chewie-"

"He needs him to help pilot – without the starboard stabiliser we'll be having trouble enough as it is." Leia punctuated the statement by grabbing Sarah's arm and dragging her from her seat and towards the quad laser turrets.

"But, I've never-"

"It's easy. Aim at the starfighters, pull the trigger." Leia didn't let her finish her objections as she kept tugging the knight down the corridor.

Sarah stopped resisting and followed the woman to a set of ladders, one going up, the other going down, before climbing down while Leia climbed up. She picked up a headset from the seat before sliding it on and sitting down in front of a nasty looking laser. _I hope Leia knows what she's doing – I've never handled anything like this before._

"Alright, I'm buckled in. When're we expecting our unwelcome guests?" Sarah asked, before jumping slightly as a heads up display came online. She eyed the HUD with distrust, trying to figure out how to use it before cursing softly. She resolved not to pay attention to the piece of technology. Ignoring the slight feeling of despair the situation created, she tried to reassure herself, _I've never needed one before…_

"Any second now, kid." Han replied

"Alright, so just point and shoot. Just point and shoot…" She chanted under her breath.

"Calm down, Sarah. It's not that hard." Leia tried to reassure her.

"That, and you're scaring your friends." Han added.

Sarah let out a steadying breath before replying. "Alright, sorry. Hey, Casey, don't worry about a thing. This is me we're talking about here, what could _possibly_ go wrong?" She'd tried for a reassuring tone of voice.

"Don't say that!" Ziva all but yelled. "Don't ever say that! Tony has forced me through enough movies to know that when someone says 'what could possibly go wrong' the ship blows up!"

"If the ship blows up, how do the heroes save the day?" Sarah asked in confusion. Sure, she hadn't watched any movies since before she became the Messenger, but they couldn't have changed so much in a few short years that the heroes were blown up and the bad guys won. Surely they couldn't have changed _that much_.

"Fine, the ship doesn't blow up, it crashes. Or a – a _plasma leak_ takes the life of most of the crew-"

"Ziva, you've been spending too much time around DiNozzo." Sarah shook her head, trying not to laugh. "A 'plasma leak'?"

"My point is," The Israeli bit out. "You never say 'what could possibly go wrong'. Never."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Fine then. We're all going to die."

"You can't say that! That's even -"

"Look alive, Sarah, Leia. We've got company." Han interrupted Ziva's complaints firmly, and Sarah took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before focusing on the area of space in front of her. So far, none of the fighters had presented themselves to her and her quad laser cannon, but it was just a matter of time.

When the first fighter came screaming past, no further than a handful of meters from the ship, she pulled the trigger. Years of training with a grumpy Shang had perfected her reaction time to scant milliseconds. By the time she pulled the trigger, the fighter was long gone. _Crap._

She didn't have time to lament her inaccuracy, as two more fighters, like X-Wings without the quad S-foils, a fact that stuck in her brain from the one public dinner she had sat through in that dimension. She'd sat next to General Wedge Antilles, ace starfighter pilot, for the entire evening, and listened to more than a little bit about X-Wing schematics.

Gritting her teeth, Sarah trailed a bead on the first fighter, pulling the trigger just as the pilot pulled in front of her laser cannon. He was almost out of her line of sight by the time the bolts reached his former position. "Bloody hell! I hope we're out of this gravity well soon, Han."

"Don't worry about it, kid, just keep shooting. We'll be out of here as soon as we clear Firkan Four."

Sarah scowled, but did as she was bid. "How're Luke and the others going?"

"Almost free of the gravity well, they're gonna punch out of here as soon as they are. We won't be far behind." Han replied, distracted. Sarah heard Chewie growl something in the background. "I know, Chewie, but is it _my_ fault the starboard stabiliser fell off?"

The stars in the background shifted in dizzying lines as the pilot and his Wookie copilot took the ship through evasive manoeuvres, twisting, diving, rolling and turning as quickly as possible to avoid the destructive laser beams lancing their way.

Another growl, this time amused, and Han was sounding defensive. "Well they _did_ need an upgrade. How was I suppose to know someone would try nabbing the kids while the _Falcon_ was stripped apart?"

Despite herself, Sarah let a small smile tug at the corner of her mouth. It turned into a broad grin as she scored a hit on the wing of an unusual looking starfighter. It had long engines hanging back from a round cockpit. When her shot connected, it spun lazily out of her line of sight. "Yes! Finally!"

"You got one?" Leia's voice was faintly amused.

"Damn straight I got one. Now just another bazillion to go, and we'll be home free." Sarah replied, refocusing on another X-Wing lookalike.

Sarah had thought they'd be clearing through the fighters quickly, at least with Leia on the other turret, and she'd expected the numbers to drop off as the Chief of State took out more and more ships. She was wrong, as more fighters seemed to fill her view, providing her with more targets. Imagine her annoyance when her accuracy didn't improve. "How can I still be missing?! There are heaps out here!"

"What do you mean?" She could hear the frown on Leia's voice. "They're retreating, aren't they?"

"If by retreating you mean doubling their numbers, then sure, they're retreating." Sarah replied, sarcastic.

"I've got barely any targets…" Something seemed to click, as Leia yelled, "Sithspawn! Han, send us into a barrel roll. They've noticed only one side of the ship is actually hitting anything."

As the smuggler complied, Sarah frowned thunderously. "So because I can't actually hit anything, they're coming after this side of the ship? Oh, that's fantastic. Take _that_, ego."

The manoeuvre did the trick, and the pirates seemed to lose focus on her side of the ship, attacking both evenly. For all of two minutes, before it became apparent which side was the safer, yet again. "Bloody hell." Sarah muttered to herself as she focused on doing more damage than just singeing the paint job.

"Han, they've figured it out again." Sarah called angrily.

The flurry of curses that came from his mouth would have done a footman in the King's army proud as he manoeuvred again to avoid their fire. Casey's voice came over the comm., questioning. "Why don't you just do that roll again?"

"Predictability gets you killed." Han replied gruffly. "Just hold on, we'll be out of the gravity well in under a minute."

He barely had time to say that as a fighter scored a lucky hit on the plasteel bubble surrounding the quad laser cannon. Sarah's eyes widened when she noticed a crack begin to grow. "Oh shit." She whispered, before fumbling to undo her crashwebbing. The cracks grew, expanding in every direction like a spider's web. They covered a two foot radius by the time Sarah got herself unravelled from the crashwebbing. "Shit, shit, shit…"

"Get out of there, kid!" Han called through the comm.

"Trying, Han!" She yelled back, before using the back of the seat as a boost and leaping onto the ladder. She climbed for all she was worth, just as a cracking sound filled her ears. She didn't stop climbing, even as a strong wind tried to suck her down –

- and a large plate slammed in place just under her feet, blocking off the vacuum of space before it could suck the air from the rest of the ship. Sarah hung on the ladder, breathing hard, eyes closed as she rested her forehead against a rung. "That was too close." She breathed, before climbing the rest of the way to the common area.

"You alright kid?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sarah replied, taking a minute to just sit there, on the floor of the corridor, legs dangling down over the ladder. "Just give me a minute."

"Take all the time you need, we're about to make the jump to hyperspace."

Sarah heard a faint change in the engine noise, just before a pair of booted feet landed beside her. Leia put a hand on her shoulder, and Sarah slowly climbed to her feet. "That was a spot of fun, wasn't it?" The knight tried for a grin, but the look Leia gave her froze the expression before it could form. "I'm alright, Leia."

The woman nodded and gave her shoulder a squeeze before walking past her, to the cockpit. Sarah followed at a sedate pace, hands in pockets to hide their shaking, even as Casey more or less flew to her side. "Are you-"

"As I told Han, and Leia, I'm fine. Not a scratch…" Sarah frowned as she thought over the statement. "Well, not a scratch that wasn't already there."

Casey sighed in relief as Sarah moved into the cockpit, giving Han and Chewie a nod. "So when's the rendezvous?"

"We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in a few minutes." Han replied. "There's an ice planet close enough to the star in that system to mask our signals even _if_ they managed to follow us and get a scan of the surface done."

"Ice planet? As in, _cold_ ice planet?" Sarah rubbed her arms despite herself.

"Yes, as in cold ice planet." Han replied. "We'll get the others to rendezvous _on_ the _Falcon_. How's that sound?"

"Like a brilliant idea." Sarah replied with a grin.

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"Close the door! It's freezing out there!" Sarah complained, even as Luke, Mara, Kyp Durron, Kam Solusar, Teneniel Djo and Isolder walked through the door.

"We're the ones that had to walk from our ship to this bucket of bolts. Why are _you_ complaining?" Mara gave the younger woman a grin, which Sarah returned.

"Cause I can."

Leia interrupted Mara's response, giving Sarah a look. "Perhaps we should pick up the children?"

Sarah gave a nod, before looking around the crowded entertainment area. "So who's coming?"

After the resultant argument, it was decided that Kam Solusar, Kyp Durron and Chewie would be staying behind, with the ships, just in case. Sarah rolled her eyes. "So ten of us will be gatecrashing a ball." She sighed. "And I'm on holidays – all of the conservatives are _bound_ to have forgotten about this by the time my holidays finish. Oh well."

Teneniel Djo gave her a measuring look. "How will we get there?"

"Are you sure you want to come?" Sarah asked. The others trusted her, mostly, and apart from Mara and the two NCIS agents, they'd already been to Tortall. The Dathomiri warrior and her husband still didn't trust her, however. There was no way in knowing how they'd react to suddenly being in the middle of a ballroom.

"I am certain. I wish to make sure my daughter is safe." The woman replied stiffly.

"Alright, fine. What about you, Isolder? Are you sure?"

"I go where she goes." He gave his wife a nod, and Sarah sighed.

"Just join hands everyone, I'll take care of the rest." Sarah took Casey's hand and gave her a little smile.

Sarah turned the pendant, and they reappeared in the middle of the ballroom. The music stopped suddenly, and the couples around them stopped dancing, stumbling away from the large group. Sarah grinned at Jon, who was shaking his head.

"More refugees, Lady Knight?"

"No, Your Majesty, their parents and family friends. We're here to pick up the little rascals, the danger's passed. Where'd they get off to?" Sarah gave him a deep bow, to placate the annoyed looking conservatives. Her eyes never left his face as she grinned broadly.

"Thayet took young Tenel Ka and Jaina to get cleaned up and eat a decent meal. I had Daine follow with Jacen and Anakin when you left." He stepped down from the dais. "I thought surely their capture by Runorlan was due to their connection with _you_, Lady Knight, rather than any propensity for trouble of their own. I suppose perhaps I was wrong."

"I resent that." She glared. "I'm not that much of a trouble maker."

"Of course not. That's why you and nine others appeared in the middle of the ballroom, rather than just outside, where it would have been _proper_." He raised his eyebrows, daring her to argue, but didn't give her a chance. "Chief of State Organa Solo, General Solo, Master Skywalker, I only wish this return visit could have come under better circumstances. And ADA Novak, how did you get mixed up in this matter? Tell me Sarah hasn't been causing trouble for you again."

"Oh come on! It's not _my _fault-" Sarah cried, frowning at the monarch, who had a teasing smile on his face.

"Introduce me to the rest of your friends, Lady Knight." He spoke loud enough to be heard throughout the ballroom, but Sarah didn't.

"You're a pain in the arse, you know that Jon?" She muttered just loud enough for the King to hear, but his smile didn't falter.

"You dumped four children on my lap without so much as an explanation. Now you bring nine others here, without warning or explanation, all of them armed. Turomot's been talking about actually fining you, Sarah, I'm saving you from a hefty fine from the Magistrate." His voice was low, and Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Okay, okay." She muttered back. "Your Majesty, forgive my errant mind, I have a great many issues to think about of late, and the introductions slipt my mind. May I present Jedi Knight Mara Jade Skywalker, Teneniel Djo, Isolder-"

"Prince Isolder." Leia corrected with a smile, and Sarah flicked a glance at the man before continuing.

"_Prince_ Isolder, Special Agent Gibbs of NCIS and Officer Ziva David of the Mossad. Everyone, meet King Jonathan of Conte the Fourth, ruler of Tortall. Forgive our attire, but we had neither the clothes nor the time to make ourselves more presentable." At that time Sarah was insanely proud of her windswept, dirty and dishevelled appearance – the only way she could look any worse would be if she had an open wound dripping blood on the floor. "Hunting pirates is dirty work."

Before Jonathan had a chance to comment, the last person Sarah wanted to see sidled up to the group. "Messenger, I was under the impression you were vacationing out of the country. I'm certainly pleased you returned, I have the opportunity to ask you the favour of this dance." Slime oozed from the Tyran ambassador's mouth as he smiled at her. Sarah felt her own turn brittle.

"Well, I'd certainly _love_ to, but you see, I'm rather severely injured-"

"Too injured to dance, yet you were able to rescue those children?" He asked smoothly.

"I'm busy. A couple of situations that need to be revised before I even _consider_ something so frivolous as dancing. My apologies." Sarah ground out, glancing deploringly at Jon, who had a barely concealed smirk on his face.

"A dance will take but a few moments, Messenger, and a bit of frivolity will surely make the business you're dealing with that much easier to handle."

"Ambassador, I am _hardly_ attired for a dance with anyone, I'm afraid I'll have to take a raincheck." Sarah tried, before letting a smile cross her face. "However, if you were looking for a dance, I'm sure Officer Ziva David would oblige you, and perhaps Special Agent Gibbs would be willing to dance with your wife." Sarah gave a nod to the overweight brunette who had applied entirely too much face paint and consumed a _very_ liberal amount of wine, and smiled at Gibbs. She didn't give either man much chance to reply, before pretending to focus. "Oh, drats. Ziva, your wrist is sprained, isn't it? Well, perhaps your wife can enjoy a dance with Agent Gibbs. The rest of us need to get a move on and get the kids, they haven't spent a great deal of time with their parents since their ordeal, and that's a situation we need to remedy immediately. Enjoy your dance, Gibbs!"

Jonathan was shaking his head in amusement, but didn't object to her behaviour. "Thayet said she'd take Jaina to the Riders mess once she was cleaned up, I can only assume that's where Daine took Jacen and Anakin also."

"Thanks, Majesty. I'd hate to have to scour the palace for them. Everyone, with me." Sarah stalked through the doors without looking back, although she sorely wanted to see the expression on Gibbs' face as the woman led him onto the dance floor. The rest of the group followed her, and it took exactly the time for the doors to swing shut before she cracked up. "Oh, man, I have _got_ to do that more often. Man, Gibbs is going to _hate_ me even more. But it is _so_ worth it."

"Why did you set him up with that heifer?" Ziva asked with a smile on her face. "He backed you up well enough-"

Sarah shrugged as she navigated through the corridors towards the Riders mess hall. "Oh, I know. But the minute we get back to NCIS I know he's gonna start in on how I 'murdered someone', so I figure, pre-emptive strike."

"You murdered someone?" Isolder asked, a frown on his face as he surreptitiously glanced around the corridor, looking at the suits of armour that lined the halls approaching the ballroom.

"No. He just thinks that I did." Sarah explained, before leading them to a set of stairs, trotting down them at a fair pace. The Riders mess was on the ground floor of the palace, right next door to the practice galleries, a place that Sarah knew how to get to from pretty much anywhere.

When they burst through the doors, they were met with an empty room. The Riders had all finished their dinner by that time at night, but Sarah had expected Thayet, Daine and the kids to be there. She shrugged. "They must still be getting cleaned up."

"We were." Thayet's voice came from behind them, as well as a few childish giggles. "Now we're hungry."

Jaina ran to her mother, throwing her arms around her, as Tenel Ka approached her own parents at a more sedate pace. Her father tugged her into a tight embrace nonetheless as her mother put a hand on her shoulder.

The two boys, however, had their eyes set on Sarah. The two explosions known as the Solo boys collided with her, almost knocking her off her feet. "I take it your parents and uncle have already received the same treatment?" She teased gently, even as Jacen nodded, grinning up at her.

Anakin pulled back, staring at her with solemn eyes. "Why didn't you visit?"

Sarah winced at the question, and dropped to her knees in front of the boy. "I'm sorry, Anakin, I really am. I just… I have no excuse. I'm sorry, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again. I'll make sure I visit you more often. I promise."

"You must have an excuse." The boy argued. "There's a reason for everything, you've got to have an excuse for not visiting."

Sarah opened and closed her mouth a few times before sighing. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I got busy. Missions, and work for the King, and I know it's not an excuse. I promise, I won't let it happen ever again." She broke out in a grin as she stood straight, measuring the height of his head against her stomach. "Damn, you guys shot up like weeds, didn't you?"

Anakin giggled and hugged her again, before running to his aunt and jumping on her. Mara looked miffed. "Glad to see where I stand, kid."

"We haven't seen Sarah in ages." He argued.

Sarah turned her attention from the pair, giving Thayet and Daine a nod. "I just can't stay away." She joked.

"You were almost killed again, weren't you." The queen was shaking her head ruefully.

"How'd you know?" Sarah frowned. "I haven't got any extra injuries."

"You've got that look about you." Thayet explained.

"What look?!" Sarah cried, outraged. That the woman had the audacity to imply that she came that close to death that often that the woman was able to identify a particular expression on her face was aggravating, to say the least.

"You know the look, Sarah." Daine replied for the queen, shaking her head.

Sarah just narrowed her eyes and glared.

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Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs was more than happy to follow the king of a country he hadn't been sure existed until that evening to the dais. If it were follow the king, or dance with the ambassador's wife again, he'd follow the man to hell and back. "Please, Special Agent Gibbs, take a seat." The monarch gestured to a chair by the throne, before sinking into the big chair himself. "Now, I take it that you believe my knight has committed some sort of heinous crime in your city?"

"The evidence points to your knight, Your Majesty." He replied evenly, as a redhead with _purple_ eyes and a tall, lanky man took up seats beside Gibbs.

"Then the evidence is wrong." The redhead retorted.

Jon gave the man a placating smile even as the woman procured a dagger from somewhere and began picking at dirt under her fingers. "What Alanna means to say is, the Gift, while rarely found in the power needed to commit the crimes you're investigating, is not at all uncommon here. What's to say that it's uncommon in your realm?"

"The fact that we haven't had reports of people running around 'blowing shit up' as your knight would say, is proof enough for me." Gibbs retorted.

"Agent Gibbs, the majority of people with the Gift have but a smidgen, barely enough to light a candle. Without training or awareness, in most cases it would go completely unnoticed." The lanky man explained, before leaning forward, a black sheen sheathing his hands in a display of controlled magic. "That said, any of us," he nodded to the king and the redhead, Alanna, "Could have done what Sarah described."

"Is that an admission of guilt?" Gibbs asked, a very small smirk on his face.

"The last time I was in your dimension was four months ago." The man shook his head. "And King Jonathan and Alanna have never been. So no, it's not. My point-"

"Your point is that your friend didn't do it. I understand." Gibbs let out a sigh. "I haven't believed she did it since we confronted her at Fort Lincoln. But she's the only suspect we have, and we had to be seen as working towards a solution."

"So you tried to frame an innocent-"

"I was doing my job." He cut the redhead off.

"And in doing so you caused that woman an undue amount of stress, something she is supposed to be avoiding." Jonathan spoke coldly.

"What, she got a _heart condition_ I don't know about? A little stress never killed anyone-"

"That woman has been through a tough time lately." The lanky man interrupted Gibbs with a glare. "She doesn't need your help in that regard."

"Look, I have spent the last two days being chewed out for doing my job, I don't need it from you lot as well. You don't have to worry, when we get back I'll make sure we start looking in other directions – it's obvious she had nothing to do with it." Gibbs shook his head angrily. "But you people need to stop threatening me."

"How is it obvious?" Alanna asked, eyes narrowed. "You'll still need to explain it to your superiors."

"She told me, in the interrogation room, that she prefers a hands on approach to dealing with the enemy. I saw that while we were rescuing the kids." He rubbed the back of his neck, before glancing up at the king. "Is that why you let Gibson sucker me into a dance with the ambassador's wife?"

Jon's eyes twinkled, and a slow smile spread across his face. "That was uncalled for. Let me make it up to you."

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"Lady Knight, I would be honoured if I could have this dance." The Tyran ambassador punctuated the statement with a low bow over his arm.

Sarah just stared at him. She'd only walked through the door a moment earlier, followed by the entire group, including Thayet, Daine, and four squeaky clean and freshly fed children. "I thought I told you-"

"But King Jonathan has assured me that you'd be willing to share a dance with me." The man interrupted her, and Sarah's jaw dropped.

"I'm sorry, _what_?"

"After you left, King Jonathan explained that you were just worried about the children's welfare, and that you'd be more than willing to share a dance with me, when they were seen to." The man spoke slowly, as though conversing with a simpleton, and Sarah gave him a brittle smile.

"Oh he did, did he?" Turning to Thayet, she gave the woman a look. "Would you be so kind as to speak to your husband about this?" She hissed in the general direction of the queen, before turning back to the ambassador. "I'm sorry, but my earlier arguments stand. I'm injured, and hardly wearing suitable clothes-"

"So your king was lying? He does not speak for you, knight?" The man baited, and Sarah's eyes narrowed.

Sarah saw the corner she'd been manoeuvred into all too late. _Oh no…_ "I would not presume to disobey a direct order from my monarch, to whom I have sworn an oath of allegiance, but I really must protest. It would hardly be proper to leave my guests waiting whilst I dance with you."

"Oh, no, Sarah, we don't mind." Casey piped up from behind her helpfully, and Sarah resolved to kill the attorney slowly and painfully.

"Have a ball." Ziva added. "Enjoy yourself."

_I am going to kill _both_ of them._ Sarah thought, gritting her teeth as she tried to come up with a way out of the dance. Thayet approached on her husband's arm with Numair, Alanna and Gibbs following. Suddenly, it all clicked. It was revenge, for the stunt she pulled with Gibbs. _Why the hell are they conspiring with Agent Stick-Up-His-Arse against me?!_

"Lady Knight, is there a problem?" Jonathan began sweetly. Alanna was grinning wickedly.

Sarah sighed, before shaking her head in defeat. "Not at all, Majesty."

"Glad to hear it. Please, the ambassador has been waiting for this dance for a while, let's not disappoint."

That was when the music started.

The dance was an upbeat affair, one in which the dancers traded partners every other cycle of steps, always returning to their original partner before swapping with another couple. So after a few moments of pure torture, Sarah found herself face to face with a grinning Jonathan. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She began in a hushed tone. "What did I do to deserve-"

"You set poor Agent Gibbs up with one of the worst dancers at court." He answered. "But I needed to speak with you away from him, and I doubt he'd let you far enough out of his sight for me to do that."

She didn't let her glare fade. "What did you need to say?"

"He doesn't think you had anything to do with the murders."

"I could have figured that out by myself." She muttered churlishly. "You didn't need to put me through torture."

"You had it coming." The man replied smugly, before passing her back to the ambassador to finish off the dance.

When it was over Sarah tried valiantly not to limp off of the dance floor, and glared at Mara as she grinned at her. "Who knew you could dance like that?"

"Shut up, Mara."

"But you moved so fluidly-"

"_Shut up_, Mara." Sarah warned, her face dark.

"I don't see why you don't enjoy it, if you're so good at it." The woman continued amicably. The children and Ziva were laughing. Tenel Ka and her family just looked bored, although Sarah could see a spark of amusement in Isolder's eyes. Leia and Luke were trying not to smile, Casey just looked sympathetic. Sarah saw a spark of satisfaction on Gibbs' face.

"Because he and his people tried to have me killed four months ago, not that he'd admit to it." Sarah retorted angrily. "Almost worked, too. Ask Casey, her and her colleagues were targeted by the nut case as well." When Mara remained silent, Sarah sighed, trying for levity. "And the man has two iron-clad left feet."

"Yeah, leave the poor girl alone. Can't you see that she can barely walk?" Han added, shaking his head. "Don't make me tell her about how you _begged_ Jabba to be allowed on his sail barge so you could make sure Luke died."

"Who's Jabba?" Sarah grinned.

"A disgusting, _dead_ slug that wanted me, Luke and Chewie thrown into the pit of Sarlacc cause Luke killed his pet rancor." Han explained.

"That still explains nothing." Sarah shook her head.

"A Hutt is a giant slug creature, fat, disgusting, smelly-"

"Jacen!" Leia looked stern. "You can't judge a species by the actions of one Hutt. The New Republic-"

"Come on, sweetheart." Han shook his head, a grin on his face. "The Hutts are all disgusting worms. You know that, when have you ever met a nice one?"

Leia seemed to think about that for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. Sarah just grinned, glad the attention had been drawn away from her, at least for the moment. "We should get back to the ship. Chewie, Kyp and Kam are probably wondering what's taking so long."

TBC…

I have learnt my lesson, readers! A cliff hanger at the end of every chapter is not cool! The last one produce the most horrible case of writers block, it took seeing a very sad episode of NCIS (Part 1 of the 2 part season finale for season 5) to shake it! As it is, I stayed up until 3AM writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. Please, feedback is needed!


	6. Chapter 6

A/n. Thank you to all that reviewed! (All is actually a euphemism for those couple of people)

Sorry again that I'm a week past my self assigned due date for this chapter (I've been hoping to update weekly, but it's that time of the semester again, and it's just not happening! Darn it all!) Plus the writing juices haven't been flowing quite as well as they have in the past… plus, the direction that I'm taking with this chapter is going to screw up the other 80 pages of writing that I've got for this story… so I'll have to rewrite it. But it'll be soooo much better than the original, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die. That just means you've got to wait for it. Sorry!

Anyway, on with the story. Remember, reviews make me happy J

**Chapter Six: I've run out of funny/witty/ironic chapter title ideas!**

They reappeared on the _Falcon_, in a _very_ crowded entertainment area. "Alrighty, this is our stop, everyone off." Sarah called. Han and Luke disappeared into the cockpit. Gibbs, Ziva and Casey sat around the dejarik table to save standing room, and Mara leant against a wall.

"We'll reconvene on Coruscant – we'll need to organise a strike force to deal with the pirate base and the Dark Jedi." Leia spoke loudly, to everyone on the ship, before turning towards Teneniel Djo. "I assume you'll want some part in taking them down?"

The woman gave a smirk, stroking the hilt of her dagger. "A very large part."

"Alright, just follow us to Coruscant – we'll make sure you're part of the fight." The Chief of State gave her a nod, and looked to Sarah. "Will you-"

"I'm probably already wanted for kidnapping of an Assistant District Attorney and two federal agents, so why not see this through?" Sarah asked, sarcastic, before turning to Casey, Gibbs and Ziva. "You lot want me to drop you off first?"

A look of resolution crossed the ADA's face. "I've got the month off, and nothing better to do. I'd love to help bring these bastards down."

Sarah twitched a smile. "You know, there's not going to be a prosecution for most of these guys."

"That's not what I meant-"

"Thankyou, Casey." Leia interrupted the woman with a grateful smile. "We appreciate the help."

Ziva and Gibbs were conversing quietly. When Sarah cleared her throat, the man turned to her. "I'm not letting you out of my sight. You might not have killed those marines, but you know how to find the person that did."

"Ziva?"

"I go where Gibbs goes." The Israeli replied.

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The _Falcon_ swooped to a landing on a large landing pad at the top of the Imperial Palace, the _Jedi's Calm_ and _Blood's Retribution_ – the Jedi and Dathomiri ships – coming to a landing to either side of the freighter. The greeting party arrayed near a set of doors started forward the moment Han began to power down, and Sarah, along with Casey, was one of the first down the ramp. "Hey, General Wedge. Long time no see." She grinned at one of the greeters, who held out a hand in welcome.

She took it, pumping firmly even as he replied. "It's just Wedge. Or, if you _must_ be formal, General Antilles. Not General Wedge."

"But General Wedge has such a nice ring to it." Sarah protested. "And think, you'll be the first General in New Republic, Imperial or even _Old_ Republic history to be called General-Insert-First-Name."

He shook his head, before turning to Casey. "General Wedge Antilles."

"Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak." The redhead replied, shaking the offered hand.

"And the other two people that are staring at everything are Special Agent Gibbs and Officer David of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service." Sarah nodded at the two who had just departed the landed ship, staring at awe in what they had had to run past on their way off world.

"You make friends so easily, it's a wonder how you manage to make so many enemies." Wedge joked.

"It's my winning personality." Sarah replied dryly. "Besides, those two aren't exactly friendly. More pains in the arse."

"Miss Gibson." A cool voice interrupted their conversation, and a short, stocky man with greying red hair stepped forward. "May I ask what you're doing back in this dimension? We caught your rush to the _Millenium_ _Falcon_ on the heels of Chief of State Organa Solo on the holocams, and I've been wondering ever since how it is that you always seem to manage to arrive at _just_ the right time to be in the middle of the action."

Sarah looked the head of New Republic Intelligence in the eye. The last time she had seen the man, he'd been awarding her the Order of the Alliance medal for saving Leia's life, and hadn't been that intimidating. Now, though, on the end of a measuring stare, with sea-green eyes boring into her own, he almost made her more nervous than Batman. _Almost._ "Why, General Cracken," She began, taken aback by his insinuation. "You honestly believe I had something to do with the children being abducted simply because I tried to _prevent_ it?"

He didn't reply, simply staring at her, and she felt her anger mount. Wedge was looking between the two, eyebrows raised, and shifted as though wanting to step back. Finally, Sarah snapped. "What is it with people accusing me of crimes I didn't commit?!" She threw up her hands and stormed to the edge of the landing pad, crossing her arms angrily against her chest.

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"_That's_ the dimension hopper?" Major Wes Janson approached Wedge as the woman stalked off in a huff. "She's _shorter_ than I thought she'd be."

Wedge just shook his head. "Don't underestimate her."

"That's what Nine said. But look at her – even Shalla Nelprin had muscles on her muscles. You're telling me that kid has 'magical powers' and-"

"That 'kid'," Casey, who hadn't followed her friend to the edge of the platform, interrupted the pilot stiffly. "Is more skilled than you can imagine, and could hand you your arse on a silver platter if you provoke her. And take it from someone who's seen it happen – assuming she can't take care of herself because she doesn't look like a massive steroid user is the _perfect_ way to provoke her."

Wedge grinned. "Wes, meet Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak. She's a friend of Sarah's."

The pilot from Tanaab, never one to miss an opportunity, put a suave grin on his face and stepped forward. Only to be beaten to it by the third pilot in the group. "Assistant District Attorney Novak," The bald, scarred (apparently) handsome former actor, now commanding officer of the elite Wraith Squadron smiled disarmingly at the woman. "Ignore the Major. I'm Captain Face Loran, but you can call me Face."

Instead of being charmed out of her annoyance, it flared. "And you can call me ADA Novak."

By now, Wedge was laughing, hand over his mouth to keep it quiet. Face turned to his former commander, a frown on his face. "She's from another dimension too?"

"How'd you know?"

"That's the only way she could _possibly_ resist-"

"Think a lot of yourself, don't you?" Unnoticed, Sarah had returned to the group, giving Casey a nod. "This clown bothering you?"

"Hey, I acted in holodramas, not holocomedies." Face frowned.

"Stretching it for pilots these days, Wedge?" Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Hiring actors now?"

"Because you could do so much better." The General replied sweetly. "What happened the last time you tried to pilot a -"

"One, it was already damaged and on the verge of dereliction." Sarah pointed out, eyes narrowed. "Two, me and Casey originate from a dimension where we've barely made it past the local moon, and our cars are still the kinds with _wheels_. I live in a civilisation where we ride four legged animals and use wax candles and fire places for lighting. I think that in my condition of being half beaten to death I did pretty darn well to remember enough of a half an hour seminar to escape Runorlan and his merry bunch of psychos and jump to hyperspace, thank you very much."

"You know, I don't remember you this defensive."

"Oh, please. I'm just defensive because not only do I have to deal with a murder rap when I get back to Casey's dimension, now I've got to deal with Cracken thinking I aided and abetted kidnappers. All this on my holiday." Sarah sighed, melodramatic, her good humour returning. "No rest for the wicked. Ten credits says I have three missions in as many months."

"How many have you had since you left?" Wedge asked.

"Weeelllll," Sarah drew out. "Probably not as many as you hotshot pilots, but I went to Casey's dimension cause a rapist was going to kidnap and murder an officer of the law there, and everyone involved preferred he went to jail instead-"

"Except you." Casey pointed out. "You wanted him to end up at the bottom of the East River."

"It would have been a hell of a lot easier." Sarah pointed out. "Besides, if he didn't pull that damned insanity defence, he'd be on death row by now. Anyway, I've been on a couple of other missions, too." Sarah didn't want to get into the mission to Ekallatum in front of a bunch of virtual strangers.

"Wow. Three missions in two years." Janson said, deadpan. "However do you cope?"

"How's this, flyboy," Sarah gave him a toothy grin. "You take my missions, and I take yours. Meet back here in a year and compare notes."

Casey laughed. Leia, having finished with her conversation with a couple of stuffy looking older men, approached in time to quirk an eyebrow at the man. "Is there a problem here, Major?"

"Not at all, Chief of State Organa Solo." The man shook his head. "Miss Gibson and I were just discussing the differences in our workloads."

Sarah had to bite her lip at the cold expression on the older woman's face. "What I neglected to mention to Major Janson is that while I'm not busy with missions for the Gods, I'm busy with missions for His Majesty King Jonathan the Fourth of Conte, you know, hunting down raiders. Stopping certain countries from testing our borders-"

"Has Tyra been causing problems again?" Casey asked with a frown.

"Problems? Tyra? Heaven's no. Some of their less scrupulous citizens have taken to the lawless lives of raiding, but that's hardly the fault of the Tyran government that they've taken to doing it in _Tortall_. Never mind that these unprincipled folk have weapons that would make a soldier in the King's army proud, and run in very organised squads, almost like a _military_ squad. Or that the Spymaster has received reports of certain elite Tyran squads going missing on exercises near the border, and mysteriously the same number of people matching their descriptions manage to turn up as a very skilled raider party." Sarah scowled. "Of course, if they don't march under a Tyran flag we're supposed to just take their word that the bastards are raiders."

"Have they tried having you killed again?" Casey asked, and Leia gasped.

"They _what_?"

"It was nothing, Leia. We caught the guy doing it, but the Tyrans, of course, denied any involvement. Nevermind their most powerful mage, a member of their court, tried to kill me in person." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Really, it's fine."

Casey wisely kept shut about the actual occurrence, where she had been the target of _three_ assassination attempts, four if you counted the Spidrens' attempt to eat them all. She'd learnt that Sarah didn't like to worry Leia, and the best way to keep Leia satisfied with Sarah's safety was to under exaggerate. A lot.

Leia pursed her lips, giving Sarah a serious look that told the knight that her cover was busted. Shaking her head, the President sighed. "We should get inside, and figure out how to keep the kids safe."

"And take care of the pirate group. Do we have any information on who it is?" Wedge asked the three women assembled.

"We didn't have time to stop and ask. Sorry. Next time, I'll be sure to ask for at least the cover letter to their résumé whilst kicking their collective ars-" Sarah cut herself off as Jaina and Jacen approached at a run.

"Uncle Wedge!"

Sharing a sheepish glance with Leia, Sarah corrected herself. "While kicking their collective _butts_."

"Let's just get inside."

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"The Dark Jedi is after the children, we should use that fact to lure him out-"

_That is one incredibly offensive furball_. Sarah decided, glancing at the other earthlings gathered. They all looked livid at the suggestion, and Gibbs made his objection known. "You're talking about using children to lure out a psycho-"

"Who is this man and what right does he have to be involved in this meeting?" The furball, Borsk Fey'lya asked, his Bothan face unreadable to Sarah.

Obviously, Leia found something offensive by the expression on his face, and replied in an icy voice. "He was involved in the rescue of those children that you're proposing for using as bait, Councillor Fey'lya. He has more right to be in this meeting than _you_ do."

Sarah snorted and tried to cover up a laugh at the woman's obvious hatred for the Bothan, but she wasn't as successful as she had hoped, when the man turned his attention to her. "And you. How are we to know that you didn't have anything to do with their initial kidnapping? It's a little convenient-"

The knight's eyes flashed, but Leia beat her to the punch. Which was just as well, because Sarah's punch would have been literal. "Did you believe Councillor Meido when he accused Han of being part of a conspiracy to murder us all, too, Councillor Fey'lya? Everyone in this room knows of Sarah Gibson's _contacts_. That's how she found out."

"And yet she failed to stop the kidnappers-"

Sarah let her control slip for a moment as her hands began to glow crimson. Instead of saying something threatening, she pasted a falsely bright smile on her face. "I wish we were home right now."

"No one is keeping you here-" The Bothan gave an obvious gulp at the sight of her hands glowing faintly.

"You misunderstand me." Sarah let the smile fall. "We, as in, you and me. Because back home, even King Jonathan wouldn't be able to stop me from kicking your arse for insinuating that I did anything but my best in stopping the kidnappers, and for suggesting that we use the children as bait. Right now, though, I'm finding it hard to believe that the man that just suggested we use kids as a lure for one of the biggest fish in this galaxy is throwing stones about protecting those kids."The Bothan's different facial features made it difficult to determine whether the threat had the desired effect, but the fact that his fur flattened as the man stiffened made Sarah smile once more. "Just so we're clear, no one is using those children as bait for that sociopath. If you try, I'll kidnap them myself."

Han laughed. General Cracken had nothing more than an interested expression on his face. "You're talking so flippantly about kidnapping the Chief of State's children?"

Sarah shared a glance with the woman in question, who was shaking her head in exasperation. A few answers flitted through her mind, so she settled on the truth instead. "Yeah." Fey'lya looked like he was going to explode, so Sarah continued. "But Leia knows that I'd return them more or less undamaged."

The kids in question were out of the room, being babysat by Chewie and another man Sarah hadn't met, that Leia had greeted as 'Lando'.

"I'm not sure how they do things in this 'Tortall', but-"

"Careful, friend, you're about to insult a great land that I call home." Sarah warned the furball. "Regardless, whatever you were about to say is immaterial. I don't do things by the books in Tortall, either. And our first priority should be keeping the children safe."

The Jedi had been present for the meeting, and kept mercifully quiet, except for Mara, who had laughed at nearly everything Sarah had said. Now Luke spoke up. "The Dark Jedi was powerful. Powerful enough to sense and track the children. We could place them in an ysalimiri bubble-"

"No. It caused us all enough pain on Almania when we were subjected to the Force nullifying bubble for a day – it'll take longer to take down the Dark Jedi." Leia shook her head firmly.

"How can we protect them then? Even if we take them to the safe planet, we can't guarantee he won't just track them there." Kyp Durron frowned in annoyance at the lack of productive ideas.

"There is one other option that no one's considered yet." Kam spoke evenly. The politicians and military men had been forgotten in lieu of planning the Dark Jedi's demise. "We did it to keep them safe when we were rescuing them." At this, his gaze fixed on Sarah evenly.

"What?" Sarah shifted, frowning, until the realisation struck. Then her frown deepened. "Aw, crap. You want me to look after the kids?"

"They'd be safe in another dimension."

"I have a kidnapping rap and a murder rap to deal with, as well as a murderer to find in Casey's dimension. I'm going to be pretty tied up with that for a while." Sarah warned.

"You're a kidnapper and a murderer." Fey'lya's voice was full of disbelief. "Chief of State Organa Solo, I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but how can you even consider leaving your children with her-"

"Is he always this dumb, or is today a special occasion?" Gibbs asked dryly, and Sarah struggled not to let a grin cross her face.

"You _dare_ mock me?" The Bothan's face was thunderous.

"With that face?" Sarah piped up. "Yeah, yeah we would."

"You mock me because of my race?" If anything he looked more outraged.

"No, you moron. I said _face_. Because you look so darn stupid. I mean, I know you're more or less blonde all over, but I didn't realise stupidity increased exponentially with the amount of blonde hair." She smiled at the man, who sputtered in rage, and she continued. "Do you serve some kind of purpose in this meeting, or are you just here to throw around ideas no one else would even consider?"

He huffed once and stormed out, and Sarah sent an innocent smile to everyone. "What?"

"He may be annoying, but he can be useful." Leia pointed out, almost reluctantly.

"He _so_ can't." Was the young woman's petulant reply.

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"So why are we here again?" Face whispered in a low voice to Wedge as they watched Sarah argue about the use of Councillor Borsk Fey'lya.

"Admiral Ackbar wanted you to meet her, to get used to the idea that someone can travel between dimensions, just in case we ever have to work with her." Wedge replied just as quietly.

"Why would we have to work with her?"

"I didn't think anyone would have to either, and then Corran Horn had to work with her to take down Runorlan. He didn't think much of her until she'd proven herself – Admiral Ackbar wanted to make sure, if it ever happened again, at least another Rogue and at least one Wraith could vouch for her with our respective squadrons."

"Why Rogue and Wraith Squadrons, though, sir?" Face continued quietly. "How likely is it that-"

"So far, in this dimension, she's been kidnapped by a group looking to take over the galaxy in the name of the Empire, and has participated in the rescue of three children from a pirate group. What exactly does Wraith Squadron deal with, mostly?" Wedge pointed out. When Face fell silent, he continued. "This is just a precaution, so if we ever need to work with her, we don't treat her like a kid."

"One, she _is_ a kid. Two, why would we work with her? She's not military, and I find it doubtful she'd follow orders. She doesn't know much about our technology, you said she can't pilot worth a damn, and the only Rogue or Wraith to have seen her in a firefight is Rogue Nine." Face argued, his voice never rising.

"Are you going to ask Admiral Ackbar the reason behind his orders, Captain?" Wedge asked softly as the argument between Leia and Sarah as to the Bothan's worth in a pirate hunting party ended when the man in question stormed out.

"Alright, so, back to business." Sarah began, sitting up straight and looking for all the world like she was serious about the meeting.

"You shouldn't have insulted him so much, Sarah." Leia sounded exasperated.

"He wanted to use your children as bait for a powerful son of a bitch. Besides, Gibbs so started it."

The man in question didn't defend himself, just gave a miniscule shrug. "We should get back to NCIS. We've still got a murderer to catch. Don't worry about the kids, if they come with us I'll make sure they're taken care of at all times, even if Sarah's busy with the case."

"We don't have a way of staying in contact with this dimension. How will we know when it's safe to bring them back?" Casey argued.

Sarah sighed. "Actually, we do. I'll need a knife and a diamond."

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"Why a diamond?" Leia asked as Sarah worked the token Mithros had given her off of the chain she kept both it and the token from the Goddess.

"They're acceptors." Sarah replied, distracted. "Out of all the gemstones I know you have here, they're the most receptive to magical influence. Opals would be best, but beggars can't be choosers." She'd been thinking about the spell she was going to attempt for a few days, refining it in her mind. There was no way of knowing whether it was going to work, but it was worth a shot. Glancing up, the knight saw Wedge's friends, Major Wes Janson and Captain Face Loran staring at her with sceptical expressions on their faces. "I suggest you leave if demonstrations of power make you uncomfortable."

"We're fine, thanks." Janson replied, and Sarah just smirked.

_We'll see how 'fine' he is when the fireworks start._

"So how's this thing going to work?" Ziva asked, keeping an eye on the others in the meeting. General Cracken had left his place across the table to stand between Sarah and Leia, in an attempt to discreetly protect the President with his body. Now he glanced up at Ziva's question, obviously wanting an answer himself.

"Well, I'm gonna hopefully bind the diamond to my amber pendant. Since my amber pendant has been through every dimension I have, it'll hopefully, with the right intention in the spell, allow me to communicate between the two stones, regardless of their location." Sarah explained as she carefully laid the amber pendant next to the diamond on the conference table.

"And the knife?"

"Spells involving the objects of the Gods require something physical to bind them, to complete them. I learned that the hard way while facing Slaughter again."

"You're going to bleed yourself on this expensive looking conference table?" Casey asked, concerned.

Sarah grinned in reply. "If it works, there won't be any mess to clean up. If it doesn't… well, these guys have cleaning droids."

"So why aren't you using the teleportation pendant?" Casey asked with a frown.

"Metal has different magical properties to amber. Now, I won't be able to alter either enough to make this spell nice and simple, but hopefully I'll be able to alter the diamond enough to compensate." Sarah gave her a nod and set her shoulders, picking up the knife. "Stand back, everyone."

The Jedi gathered, who had all remained seated, stood now and took a large step back. Mara had a grin on her face. "How far back? The corridor outside?"

"You were probably fine sitting down." Sarah retorted. "I was actually referring to the two mother hens hovering over me asking me every miniscule detail of the spell."

"Ah." Ziva took a step back from right next to Sarah's shoulder. "I am sorry, I was just curious."

Casey took a step back from her other shoulder without a word, and Sarah took a deep breath, bracing herself, holding the knife against her palm. _Here goes nothing…_

Drawing the knife against her skin gently, she felt the skin split and let out a hiss. Injuries always hurt more when self inflicted – something about the adrenalin pumping in a fight seemed to dull the pain. Now, though, she felt the full range of sensations, from the cool blade dragging through her skin, the stinging pain as the wound came in contact with the cool air in the room, and finally the dull throb as her body adjusted to the wound.

Laying the knife carefully on the table, away from the two stones, she made a fist of her injured hand and held it over the stones, letting the blood dribble out over the stones even as she bathed them with her Gift, and began her spell.

"One, the token of the Goddess. One, morphing, changing, becoming what is needed. Connected, joined-" A soft wind picked up around the stones, a good sign, Sarah thought. She grimaced as she felt the spell tugging on her reservoirs of the Gift. A pounding began in her temple, and she struggled to continue the spell. "Bound! Together, connected, a bridge to speak across. United! So mote it be!"

There was a flash of light, and Sarah collapsed against the table, vision filled with dark spots as she struggled to regain her footing.

There was a set of hands guiding her to a chair and pushing her head down, between her legs. Someone was talking to her, voice urgent, but Sarah couldn't focus enough to figure out who. They were shaking her now, how she wished they wouldn't, her headache wasn't getting any better.

Suddenly, there was a still hand on her other shoulder, and coolness flowed through her veins, and everything snapped back into focus. It was Casey, shaking her, almost frantic. "'m alright, Case. Don' worry." She mumbled as she struggled to sit up straight. Luke, the source of the hand on her shoulder, helped her. "Gods, I suck at making up spells."

"How are you feeling?" He asked, blue eyes betraying a hint of concern behind his passive, calm exterior.

"Like shit." She replied succinctly, and a quick grin quirked on the man's face. "But I'll be fine in a few moments."

He guided her hand to the table top, and she fumbled to pick up what lay there. It was her amber piece, but as she peered closely at it, she frowned. There seemed to be a layer of something clear covering it. Sarah fumbled for the dagger, scratching the clear coating with the tip of the blade, and her frown deepened. It wasn't coming off. "What the hell?"

"What's wrong?" Casey asked, and Sarah glanced up into the attorney's eyes.

"I shouldn't have been able to alter the amber. Tokens from the Gods should be unchangeable. Somehow, though, the spell created a clear covering-" And idea formed in Sarah's mind, and she fumbled for the diamond. It was considerably smaller than it used to be. "Hmm… some of the mass from the diamond must have transferred to a coating on the amber pendant. Let's hope that's not all the spell did."

"Those were some fireworks, kid." Han had a big smile on his face. "You scared the flyboys."

When Sarah looked into the faces of Janson and Loran, she couldn't help but grin. They were pale, eyes wide in shock. "Sorry, did I startle you? That was nothing. A friend of mine has turned a man into a _fruit tree._"

"When she was here last Sarah split the landing field of the Jedi Academy in half." Mara added with a grin.

"And called upon a God to convince us of her origins." Han continued.

"And we're all going to shut up now if you want your pilots functional." Sarah finished with a shake of her head. She scrubbed her neck before forcing her way to her feet. "We should get going. I'll test the diamond when we get back to NCIS."

"Are you sure you're up to the trip?" Casey asked, eyes still worried.

"Casey, stop. It wasn't the amount of magic that I used that almost knocked me out, it was the amount of magic that I used _in a single instance_ that knocked me out. I'm running low, but not that low." Sarah reassured. "Really, though, we should get going. It's going to take a while to explain to everyone that I didn't kidnap these guys, they just hitched a ride with the wrong person. And after that we still need to find the murderer."

Leia and Han shared a glance, before nodding. The Chief of State pressed a button on the wall and spoke into what looked like a speaker. "Chewie, Lando, could you bring the kids in here?"

When they appeared, the Wookie growled a question. "We're going after the pirates and the Dark Jedi. Sarah's taking the kids with her – it's the only place they'll be safe." Han answered.

The man Leia had referred to as Lando stared at Sarah openly. "You're trusting your kids with a woman that I've never met?"

Sarah met Leia's eyes and rolled her own, before stepping around the table and extending a hand. "Sarah Gibson. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Lando. Now that we've met, yes, Leia is entrusting her children to my care while this situation you have here is resolved. You see, the Dark Jedi will most certainly not be able to track them where I'm going. There is absolutely, one hundred percent _no chance_ that he will find them. Happy?"

He raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down. The look turned into an expression she had seen on Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo's face at the airport, when he had been trying to be charming. "Well, Miss Gibson, it is a _pleasure_ to finally meet you. Han's told me so much about you." When he was raising her hand to his lips, she withdrew it with a snort.

"I'll bet he has." She muttered, throwing a quick, unamused glance at Casey, who was snickering softly.

"We'll be going with Sarah?" Jaina was asking her mother softly.

"Yes. It's safest for you at the moment."

"How will we know what's happening here?" The young girl asked.

"Sarah just did a spell to create a communicator. Assuming it worked, we'll be able to keep in constant contact." Leia answered, smoothing back the girl's brown hair. "It'd be best if you left soon. Are you ready?" In reply, the girl hugged her mother fiercely, soon to be joined by her brothers.

Teneniel Djo had been silent the entire meeting, no doubt planning her own revenge on the Dark Jedi, away from the Republic's eyes. Now she spoke up. "I will not leave Tenel Ka with this woman. She would be safer with her family, on Dathomir."

"That's the first place they're going to look for her." Han pointed out.

"Then we will defend against their attacks-"

"If you're not willing to leave your kid with me," Sarah began, almost rolling her eyes, "Then at least don't take her back to the place she was kidnapped. Get in that pretty space ship of yours and keep moving. Don't stay in one place for too long. That way the Dark Jedi won't be able to set a trap for you. But I really must point out that she'd be safer in another dimension."

While they had been waiting for the diamond and the dagger, Sarah had had to endure Isolder's questions about her origins. For some reason, now that they were clued into the situation, they trusted her even less. "Perhaps we will take your advice, and move around with her." Isolder began slowly. "It's not that we don't trust you-"

"It's just that you don't trust me." Sarah finished wryly.

The man gave a quick smile and a nod. Sarah sighed and looked over the three children. "Come on then, say your goodbyes and we'll get going."

"One moment." Luke began, holding up his hand to stall conversation.

Mara was glaring at him, hissing in a low voice. "No!"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Sarah shared a quick, amused grin with Leia, who was shaking her head. Luke, seemingly finished with his argument with his wife, turned to Sarah. "Mara's coming with you."

"No, I'm not." The redhead returned viciously. "I'm going to help find the-"

"Someone needs to go with Sarah to help her with the kids, someone the kids trust." Luke pointed out. "Obviously, Leia can't-"

"What about Han?" Mara retorted.

"No way in hell, I'm going to find the bastard that hurt my kids and-"

"That's a no." Luke interrupted his brother-in-law, before he said anything too graphic in front of the children.

"What about Kyp?" Mara tried.

"The kids don't know him very well." Luke replied, and the Jedi in question looked very smug at that moment.

"Kam then." Mara was getting desperate.

"You're still the better choice."

"I'm not a student anymore, Farmboy. I'm a Jedi Knight, and my grasp of the Force is better-" Mara was working herself into a rant when Luke interrupted her.

"Sarah might need your help bringing down the man that's murdering people in her dimension, if he also has magic. You're the best choice for all aspects of the job." Luke took both of her hands in his and gave them a squeeze. "Please."

The redhead sighed. "Fine…"

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They reappeared back in the interrogation room, with DiNozzo and McGee standing in the doorway, guns out and pointed at the large group of people. "DiNozzo! McGee!" Gibbs barked. "What are you still doing here?"

TBC…

A/n. Alright, so I've got to fess up. The 'Is he always this stupid, or is today a special occasion' line was my sisters. She suggested I put it in my story, and I've always got room for a good insult, besides which there has been many an occasion where I personally have needed a line like that. Unfortunately, most of those occasions involve the same person, and as such they prove that the day isn't actually a special occasion, the person I am referring to is actually that stupid. Lol.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

"W-what do you mean, boss?" The one Sarah assumed was McGee frowned. "You've only been gone for a second."

A grin broke out on the knight's face. "Aw, Mithros, is this your doing?" She received nothing but silence, and her grin widened. "I _knew_ it. I knew you liked me. You'll pretend like you don't…"

"I don't." The God's voice sounded in the room. "But I couldn't have too much attention drawn to your escapades."

"You like me." Sarah mocked in a sing song voice, but quickly stopped when she heard what could have been construed as an angry growl. Mara shook her head, a smirk on her face. Casey had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at the younger woman.

"Boss, do you want to explain what happened?" DiNozzo looked between Gibbs and Sarah, the children, the attorney and the Jedi Knight.

"Ziva, you explain. Sarah, with me. Novak, take the kids and Mara out to the bullpen." He beckoned out the door, and Sarah shared a rueful glance with Casey.

"This is going to be payment for the 'you aren't the boss here' comment, I can tell."

"You were kind of…"

"Bitchy." Sarah supplied helpfully, and the attorney nodded.

As they walked past they heard Ziva explaining to DiNozzo and McGee, "It was exhilarating. Just like one of Tony's movies, except it was _real_. There were spaceships, laser guns-"

"Spaceships?" DiNozzo choked out. "How is that fair? How is _that_ fair?"

"It was incredible. When we grabbed Sarah we reappeared in the corridor of this building that made skyscrapers look like stone huts. I'm talking thousands of stories high. Sarah had a vision that those three children were going to be kidnapped, and we rushed in to stop it from happening, but they were snatched anyway. So we rushed to this _spaceship_ that travelled faster than the speed of light, and followed the kidnappers based on nothing by the mother's instincts. When we got there, Gibbs refused to let Sarah go on the rescue mission without us, so we got to use blasters, which are like laser guns, and we went with them. And wow, how incredible it was. She blew down a wall with her magic, and-"

"Enough, Ziva! Stop rubbing it in!" DiNozzo threw up his hands and stormed out of the room. McGee looked amazed, and a little bewildered, before following DiNozzo.

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Sarah followed Gibbs down the hall and to a staircase, picking up her amber pendant as she went. "Leia, can you hear me?" She willed the spell to work, and it was a brief moment before the woman's voice came back over the pendant.

"Loud and clear Sarah. I take it the diamond idea worked. How's everything there? Are you wanted for kidnapping?" The woman sounded concerned.

"Nope. Turns out Mithros stopped time here to save me the trouble of an FBI investigation." Sarah grinned to herself as she followed Gibbs up the set of stairs.

"How are the kids?"

"They're fine. They're with Casey and Mara at the moment – I'm on my way to be chewed out by the Director. Let's just hope Gibbs is good at convincing people of my innocence." Sarah sighed. "I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Sure thing. Talk to you then." Leia confirmed.

Sarah signed off, and looked to see Gibbs standing impatiently in front of a door. He turned entered the room without knocking, and Sarah followed.

As they entered, Sarah heard him say, "Cynthia, is she in?"

"Yes, but-" The woman cut herself off with a sigh as he opened the door, holding it open for Sarah.

Sarah threw Cynthia a quick smile as she passed through the door. Sitting in the new room was a woman with short red hair and a stern expression on her face. "Jethro."

"Jenny." He replied. "I just thought you'd like to know that Miss Gibson's innocent."

"And how do you know?" She seemed almost… amused at her subordinate's behaviour.

"My gut is how I know." Gibbs replied.

Sarah sighed. It was going to be a _long_ day.

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"You know, Ziva," McGee began with a mischievous glint in his eye. "I'd love to hear _all about_ your trip."

"Really McGee?" The woman grinned. "How considerate of you. Well, I'd be _delighted_ to tell you. When Gibbs, Casey and I grabbed Sarah, we were transported to another dimension where Sarah is friends with the President of a galaxy. She-"

"The New Republic doesn't span the entire galaxy. The Empire still controls a large portion of it." Mara interrupted. She and the children were standing against the wall, out of the way as they adjusted to the differences between the two dimensions. "Leia's only President of part of the galaxy."

"Regardless," Ziva continued flippantly, waving a hand at the woman. "We had to help rescue Jaina, Jacen and Anakin, because they were kidnapped by this emo-"

"Emo?" Tony asked, confused.

"You know, someone who wears a lot of black-"

"I know what it is, Ziva." He interrupted impatiently. "What do you mean, an _emo_ kidnapped them?"

"A Dark Jedi had them kidnapped. He wore a lot of black-"

"That doesn't make him an emo-" Tony began, shaking his head as he smiled reassuringly at the children, who were looking at Ziva sceptically.

"It does too-"

"Does not."

"Children, are you quite done?" A cheery voice from behind the arguing pair asked in a mock serious tone.

"You're arguing like an old married couple." Another added dryly. "What's the squabble about this time?"

McGee jumped in front of the two, an uneasy look on his face. "Don't get them started, Ducky. Really."

"Where's Gibbs?" Abby asked, excited. "We've got something to show him. He's going to owe me like, _ten_ cafpows after this. There was a fingerprint burnt into the bone on one of the marines. If we can get Miss I'm-From-Another-Dimension-And-Don't-Have-A-Suitable-Alibi's defence attorney to agree to taking her client's fingerprints, we can clear her." The woman was almost bouncing up and down on the spot.

"Or condemn her, Abigail." Ducky countered. "We don't know-"

"Oh come on, Ducky!" Abby cut off the doctor loudly. "Do you actually think she came all the way here from New York to kill a few marines? There are marines over there, too-"

"Sarah didn't kill anyone!" Anakin exclaimed from against the wall, starting forward. Mara grabbed his shirt to stop the boy from advancing on Ducky and Abby. Other than that, she didn't move, speak or make any attempt to defend her friend. Casey's stance matched the Jedi's – Anakin would do a good enough job defending Sarah, and the boy didn't know enough about the situation to implicate her further. "She wouldn't kill people unless it was the only way to stop them from hurting other people!"

"Yeah, she didn't even kill the pirate that was trying to drag me off to a ship and hide me from mama and papa." Jaina added.

Abby didn't even blink, just jumped on the excuses the children were giving her. "Yeah, she didn't even kill the pirate – wait a minute. Pirate? As in, 'yar me matie, I be looking for Spanish doubloons'?"

Ziva turned to the woman, a huge grin on her face. "Have I got a story for you…"

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"How are you?" Sarah tried, smiling her best 'I'm not a danger to anyone, why won't you believe me' smile. "My name's Sarah, but you probably already know that, and no, I didn't kill anyone. Well… the pilots of the headhunters and uglies, but I figure other dimensions are out of your jurisdiction, so that doesn't matter."

Gibbs looked at her with an expression that said 'how stupid can you be, admitting you've killed people recently?' 'Jenny' raised an eyebrow. "The pilots of the _headhunters_ and _uglies_?"

"The pilots of the starfighters that were trying to shoot us out of the sky on our escape from the pirate base while we rescued-"

"If no time has passed, here, Gibson, then Director Shepard doesn't know about any of that yet." Gibbs reminded her with a pained look on his face, as though to ask, 'Why did you even mention the pilots of the starfighters let alone the rescue mission?' "Besides which, from what I hear you didn't actually _hit_ anything, so you didn't kill any pilots."

Sarah glowered. "I _so_ hit one of them. I'm sure I did."

"How many were out there?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Shut up, Gibbs." Sarah retorted sourly. "I did better than my first attempt to hit something with a crossbow."

The man just shook his head. "It's a long story, Jen."

The woman didn't reply, instead she leant over her desk and pressed a button on her intercom. "Cynthia, cancel my three o'clock." Then, she sat back slowly, crossing her arms against her chest. "I've got nothing but time, Jethro."

Sarah didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She _so_ didn't want to explain it to the woman. "Look, Director Shepard. When I first went to Tortall, the Gods stopped time so that my family wouldn't be worried, and that I might've eventually returned to a normal-esque life." She decided not to mention the fact that they'd done the same for the SVU when they'd come to Tortall. She didn't know how much they'd let out of the bag in the few days she'd been in Tortall after the invasion. "Anyway, they've done the same here. I was told by the Great Mother Goddess that three children that I know and absolutely adore were about to be kidnapped, I called the interview as over, but Gibbs and Ziva didn't want to accept that. They, along with ADA Novak, grabbed hold of me just as I was teleporting. I didn't have time to bring them back before the kids were kidnapped, and Gibbs didn't have the inclination to leave my murderous side after they were kidnapped. As a result, we all went on a rescue mission together as one big happy team."

Sarah sighed and started pacing around the office. "That rescue just happened to include space travel, a near crash landing on a planet that housed a hidden pirate base, a trek through said pirate base, a fight against someone with powers not too different from the Gift, and an escape under fire. Gibbs, in his infinite _wisdom_, refused to stay someplace safe, and had to join in. That's the short version, if you want the long version you'll have to drag it out of Gibbs later, because right now we've got three kids and a woman from another dimension in your bullpen terrorising your agents."

With that, she turned and left, taking a gamble that the woman wouldn't order Gibbs to drag her back by the hair. When she made it down the stairs with no sign of pursuit she breathed a sigh of relief. Mara met her at the base of the staircase, an irritated look on her face.

"Can I kill Special Agent DiNozzo?"

Sarah grinned. "So long as I don't get pinned for the murder, go ahead. Let me guess, he hit on you."

"To put it lightly." Mara shot the man a glare like daggers, and Sarah sighed.

_If we don't clear this up now we're gonna have hell trying to work the case with Gibbs' team._ She shook her head as she approached the male agent with the high libido. "Hi, DiNozzo-"

"That's Special Agent DiNozzo, to you." He began coldly, before breaking down. "Why couldn't you take me?! Why Ziva?!"

"Ziva grabbed me when she really shouldn't have. I would have preferred going without anyone, but they all grabbed me and I didn't have time for a return trip. If you'd been a little more-" She decided against the word 'grabby' at the last minute, remembering just _which_ lecherous Special Agent she was talking to. "If you'd been a little faster in your defence of your boss and your case, it would have been you, and not Ziva. Now, what I wanted to talk to you about. Mara's married. She's also a former smuggler's second in command, and I'm not exactly sure what she did before that, it's all very hush hush, but when she and I duelled with swords, we drew. Which means she can kill you before you can blink. So stop hitting on her."

"Jealous?" He asked with a seductive grin.

"I have a boyfriend. And while he may be considerably _younger_ than you, as am I, he's much more mature. And so much more charming." She flashed him a grin. "You give a girl flowers. Briar makes them grow out from the flower pot and bloom before your eyes."

Casey snickered, and Sarah groaned inwardly. She'd just given the attorney more ammunition to use against her. "Who's Briar?" Jaina asked, and Sarah noticed the children for the first time crowding around the large tactical screen. There was a cartoon on the screen.

Sarah rolled her eyes, before answering the girl. "Briar's a young man that I met when he came to visit Tortall. I acted as tour guide for him and his family, and the Gods dragged him on a mission with me."

"And he's your booooyfriend." Jaina grinned, and Sarah groaned, sinking her head in her hands.

"For crying out loud. What are we, in primary school?" She let out, muffled by the hands covering her mouth.

"They're old enough to be." Casey pointed out, and Sarah shook her head.

About to comment further on the maturity of the Assistant District Attorney, she was interrupted by a woman with jet black hair in two pigtails, very black eyelashes and black fingernails more or less jumping in front of her. "Hi. I'm Abby."

"Hi Abby, I'm Sarah…" The knight glanced at Casey, who was shrugging helplessly.

"I know. Sir Sarah Gibson of Greenstone, Knight of Tortall. I saw the newscast."

"She had it running on a loop in her lab." McGee supplied with a grin. "She's been _dying_ to meet you."

"Uhh…" Sarah shared another glance with Casey, this one desperate.

"Ignore McGee. He's just annoyed that he didn't think of scraping back some of the charcoal on the bones to find a fingerprint and now we can take your fingerprints and clear you and-"

A hand wrapped around Abby's mouth, and DiNozzo gave Sarah an uneasy grin. "Ignore her. I – ew!" He jerked his hand away, wiping it hurriedly on his pants. "You licked me!"

The woman in question just grinned. "Yes. I did. Now, go away, me and Sir Sarah Gibson of Greenstone are having a conversation."

"About that." Sarah began, glancing at Casey and Mara, who were both smiling innocently at her. They were enjoying her predicament. Sarah just wanted to get away from the overly excited woman who had an intense look in her eyes. "Let's just stick to the issue at hand. The case. We have to-"

"I appreciate the offer, Miss Gibson, but I'm afraid that won't be necessary. We can handle the case." Director Shepard spoke as she walked down the stairs. Gibbs was trailing behind her, looking pissed.

Sarah frowned. "I'm sorry, Director Shepard, I must have misheard. I thought you just said you wouldn't need my help, and that you can handle the psycho running around killing people with the Gift. But that _can't_ have been what I heard, because that's _suicide._"

"I'm not sure how they do things where you're from, but here we need to get a conviction to sentence a man to prison. We can't do that if you interfere."

"You can't do that if I _don't_." Sarah retorted. "I'm not sure you quite understand what you're dealing with."

"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Gibson. We'll be in contact if we need any further clarification on _what we're dealing with._"

That was a dismissal if Sarah had ever heard one, but she stood there, mouth gaping as she stared at the woman. "You're kidding."

"She's not." Gibbs didn't sound too happy with the woman.

"You… you're…" Sarah took a deep breath and tried again. "You can contact me through the one six in Manhattan when you change your mind. Just pray to whatever deity you worship that it's before too many of your people lose their lives."

She turned to Casey and Mara. "Come on, let's go. It's not hard to know when you're not wanted here."

"Why don't we just work the case ourselves?" Mara asked, voice harsh. "We'll find the guy before these guys even-"

"We do that and we get arrested for obstructing justice or vigilantism. We resist arrest and we get our pictures on the evening news as highly dangerous felons who assaulted federal officers. Let's just get out of here – Goddess knows these guys can't handle it on their own, we just have to wait for them to realise it."

All through their exchange, DiNozzo was staring at Ziva and Gibbs, confused. _Why aren't they getting pissed? They've just said, twice, that we can't handle this case._ After a few moments of pondering, he voiced his concern.

"Because, DiNozzo, we _can't_. We saw a man shoot lightning bolts out of his hands – if this guy is anything like that, which he _is_, based on the Marines in autopsy, we won't be able to arrest him. We need help. Director Shepard just doesn't understand that." Gibbs stared directly at the woman as he said that, and a poisonous expression crossed her face.

"That's enough, Special Agent Gibbs." Her voice was harsh, and everyone winced.

"Right. Well. Let's get going, guys." Sarah held out her hand to Jaina and Anakin. Jacen grabbed his sister's, and Mara took hold of her youngest nephew's. Casey laid a hand on Sarah's shoulder. Sarah threw Gibbs a look, and he gave her a nod. He'd call her before it got too out of hand. "You know where I'll be."

Another nod, and she was off.

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"Whoa." Munch gaped at the large group of people that had appeared smack bang in the centre of the bullpen.

"Hi." Sarah waved with a grin.

"Hi." He replied, before cocking an eyebrow. "Care to make the introductions?"

"Mara, Jaina, Jacen, Anakin, this is Detective John Munch. John, meet the Solo children and their aunt, Mara Jade Skywalker."

Munch was nodding slowly. "And what are they doing here?"

"Well you're rude." Sarah said easily as she gently extracted herself from the children holding her hands and walked over to Olivia's locker in the squad room. She opened it easily – after all, who would put a padlock on a locker in a police station? And she pulled out her two daggers that Casey had forced her to leave behind. "They're here because I'm here and they can't hop between dimensions like I can. The kids are my temporary wards and Mara's my temporary handler."

The redhead grinned wickedly at her descriptions as Sarah attached a dagger to her forearm. After a moment's thought she threw one of the sheathed knives to Mara. "I thought _you_ were _my_ handler. Who's going to keep us out of trouble now?"

Sarah's expression matched the redheads. "Do you think anyone could manage to keep us both out of trouble?"

"Should we be scared?" Olivia asked, half distracted as she walked through the entrance, a photo in her hand. She pinned it on the notice board – it was a mugshot of a dishevelled man. "And shouldn't you take the children away from the noticeboard?"

It was then that Sarah noticed pictures of three young women, two obviously dead and one hooked up to monitors, as well as pictures of bruises and cuts below the respective victims. As soon as Olivia suggested she take the children away from the noticeboard, they all turned their heads towards it. "Oh no you don't." Sarah slid in front of them, a hand over Jaina's eyes and a hand over Jacen's. She blocked Anakin's view with her body. "Definitely not suitable for children."

"What is it?" Jacen asked, curious.

"Something that if you're extremely fortunate you'll never have to know about. Now close your eyes and turn around."

"We aren't babies-"

"I promised your mother that I'd look after you while she hunted down the Dark Jedi and the pirates, and that includes your mental wellbeing. Close your eyes." Sarah said firmly, rebutting Anakin's objections. She turned them each around and shot a grateful look to Olivia.

"So why are you looking after them?" Munch asked as they walked away from the board. Sarah sat each of the kids down at the desks the four senior detectives used and nodded Mara into one, opting to lean against Munch's.

"Well, like I said, I promised their mother I'd keep them somewhere safe while they hunted the pirates and Dark Jedi that managed to nab the kids the other day. There was supposed to be another kid, but her parents didn't trust me enough to let me go gallivanting off to other dimensions with her." Sarah shrugged.

"They were kidnapped recently?" Munch frowned, looking at the three children that seemed happy enough, if a little bored. "And they haven't spent time with their parents since?"

"It wasn't a big deal." Anakin shrugged, his face outrageously flippant. "We've been kidnapped before. Once even Sarah was kidnapped with us. Mama and Papa always come to save us, and catch the man doing it."

A suspicious expression crossed John's face, and Sarah rounded on him. "Now don't go jumping to any conclusions. Remember how wrong you were about Numair. Keep in mind that this is a government that spans almost an entire_ galaxy_, and there are select people that want to rule the galaxy and have the means to counter almost all of the security measures. Brute force can get around the rest. Their parents are Chief of State Leia Organa Solo, Princess of Alderaan, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance and a huge influence in the downfall of the Empire, a cruel dictatorship, and Retired General Han Solo, former smuggler and another major player in the downfall of the Empire. All kinds of people are after these kids." At that, she crossed her arms against her chest, and Munch held up his hands placatingly.

"Alright, alright, I believe you!"

Fin, who had left Captain Cragen's office, the Captain following him, just in time to hear Sarah's little tirade, laughed.

Cragen just shook his head. "So you were kidnapped? Do you ever have a week where you're _not_ in some kind of trouble?"

"Yes, thank you very much." Sarah put on her best miffed voice. "Just not too often."

"This wasn't Sarah's fault, it was ours." Jaina piped up, and when Sarah frowned, she elaborated. "You wouldn't have been taken if-"

"Don't. I've explained it to you three more than once, what happened wasn't your fault. What happened was the fault of a very bad man who is now very dead. He exploded and everything."

"Because you killed him. You killed him for us." Jaina argued.

"I killed him because if I didn't he was going to kill me." Sarah retorted, before thinking it over. "Okay, and maybe a little for revenge. But none of that is your fault."

"You killed a man for-"

"I killed an evil son of a bitch who was trying to kill me. If he weren't trying to kill me I wouldn't have killed him, but alas, he wanted to chop me in half." Sarah replied to Cragen's question coldly. "And he ordered his men to hold blasters to the kids' heads to stop me from escaping with them."

"And he let his men hurt you." Jacen supplied helpfully.

"Because of us." Anakin added sullenly, and Sarah rounded on the boy, dropping to her knees in front of him, a hand on each of his shoulders.

"_No_." She shook her head firmly. "_No_, it was _not_ your fault. I've explained all that to you. Just a second ago, if I recall." Resting her forehead against the boy's, she took a deep breath. "That man was a complete psycho. He didn't care who lived and who died while he tried to take over the galaxy. You cannot take responsibility for the actions of a lunatic."

"But you were almost killed!" The boy blurted.

Sarah let out a laugh. "Anakin, Anakin, Anakin. Do you have any idea how often I've been 'almost killed'? I can't count it on two hands, that's how often. Really, yours was one of the safer missions. And let me tell you, my boy, I've come closer before. Quite recently. Just ask this lot, they were there. Makes our little stay in the house that Runorlan built seem like a pleasant dream."

"Were you scared?" Anakin asked, wide eyed.

Sarah glanced up at Cragen, Munch and Fin with a grin. "Didn't have time to be. This dimension is different to yours – the aliens aren't always so nice. A couple of species decided it'd be a grand idea to invade this planet, and Mithros told me about it. After the invasion started it was crisis after disaster after catastrophe, it was all we could do to stay ahead of the problems. Besides. Me? Scared? Pfft."

At this, Jaina giggled. "You were scared of heights when you first got to Coruscant."

"Tell ya what, kiddo, one day I'll borrow a broom from my friend Harry and take you for a ride. We'll see how scared you are when there's nothing but a piece of wood between you and a fall to your death."

"But a speeder is better than a broom-"

"I trust a broom more than a speeder. And I trust a paper aeroplane more than your father's piloting after that little death plunge he did on the run down to the surface of the pirates' planet." Sarah retorted. "Now, are we going to put what happened years and years and _years_ ago behind us?"

"It was only a year and a half ago." Jaina laughed.

"That's a long time for someone your age." Sarah retorted. "Now, I need to talk with Captain Cragen for a little while, so why don't you and Mara go bug Casey."

As the kids acquiesced, Sarah straightened with a grimace, a hand going to her back as she gripped the back of a chair for balance. "You okay?" Cragen asked, moving a fraction of a step forward, as though to help her.

Sarah nodded and let go of the chair. "Yeah. Just getting too old for all this." The look he gave her was sceptical, so she amended her statement. "And maybe I need to let my injuries heal before I go off on another rescue mission."

"Maybe. You wanna tell me how it is that you left early this morning with Casey, and managed to come back with three kids and someone that _you're_ apparently supposed to be keeping out of trouble?" The man asked, humour on his face.

"I'm glad _you_ think it's funny." Sarah replied sarcastically. "The Goddess told me they were about to be kidnapped. You know how I told you about my third mission – the one where I had to pretend to be a hobo for most of it? Anyway, those kids belong to the President of that dimension's primary government, and as such have bullseyes painted on their backs for kidnappers. This time we weren't able to guarantee their safety in their home dimension, so their parents asked me to bring them here, because there's no way anyone that wants to hurt them could find them. Mara's here because up until about half an hour ago I thought I'd get to help out with the NCIS's case, and she was going to help, but apparently they can handle some guy with the Gift running around melting people, so we came back here." Her face was dark at the last.

"Ookay. So where are they staying?" He asked pointedly. "You can't stay in the crib."

"I know. I just wanted to let you know we've got a method for communicating between dimensions now, so I'm going to head back to Tortall, create more of the communication stones, and deliver one here. That way, when NCIS call, because they _will_, unless they want all their field agents killed, you can call me and I can come right back."

"You're drained, in case you don't remember." Casey reminded her from behind her, causing Sarah to jump a foot in the air.

"Ninja much?"

"Jumpy much?" The woman countered, and Sarah stuck her tongue out at the attorney. "Anyway, like I was saying, you fainted last time-"

"I did _not_." Sarah glared at Casey, who didn't seem intimidated in the slightest. "I was still conscious."

"You couldn't even sit under your own power."

"I _so_ could."

"Could not-"

"Are you two quite done?" Cragen asked, exasperated.

"Sorry, Don, she brings out the worst in me." Casey shrugged and grinned at Sarah, who's gaze narrowed.

"It doesn't matter if I'm drained – I still need to do the spell so you lot can communicate with me so that when NCIS call you can tell me they're swallowing their pride and want my help. And the kids need a place to stay. So I need to do the spell so I can get them to Tortall and get them some rooms."

"Couldn't you just pop in every day-"

"A case like this? They might need me ASAP." Sarah countered.

Sometime during the argument, Elliot and Olivia had approached. Now the man sighed. "You can stay with me."

TBC….

A/n. I SWEAR they get to help out with the investigation eventually. But seriously, what self respecting federal agency would let a former suspect investigate with the aid of a former smuggler? None, that's who! So our heroes have to wait a little while before they can help. But it's coming!


	8. Chapter 8

And now, the next exciting instalment in 'Suspect'…

Chapter Eight:

"Why wouldn't you just let her help?" Abby complained to the Director. "I had a heap more questions to ask her!"

"I'm sorry, Abby, but you'll have to take it up with the legal department." Jenny Shepard had to hide a smile. Abby Sciutto was overly enthusiastic when it came to things not of the norm, including Sarah Gibson. The forensics expert had sulked for two days when she found out her newest fascination was their prime suspect.

"But Director…" She drew out the word 'Director' in a whine.

"But Abby…" Jenny replied in the same tone of voice. "I'm sorry, but even without the legal ramifications of having a former suspect solve our case for us, any defense attorney would be able to say that Gibson had used magic to fabricate the evidence against the perp. It's just not going to happen. I'm sorry."

"Hmpf." Abby frowned and stormed petulantly back to the elevator to head back to her lab.

"And don't forget to run the fingerprint found on our third victim's bones!" Shepard called after her.

"I already have! It's running through AFIS right now." Abby called back, before disappearing into the elevator.

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"Um…" Sarah glanced between the kids, Mara, and the detective haphazardly. "Shouldn't you ask your wife before you invite us all to stay at your house for an undefined period of time? I mean, unless you were just meaning me, because thanks, but-"

"No, I meant all of you. Kathy won't mind."

"You've got five kids of your own. You really want to let another four and me into the house?" Sarah asked, blithely ignoring the fact that Mara was older than her.

"My twins are only a little older than Jaina and Jacen. They'll get along great." Elliot shrugged. "And Kathy's really wanted to meet you since I told her about you."

"Your house, no matter how big it may _seem_ right now, is not big enough for another five people Elliot." Sarah shook her head, almost laughing at the detective.

"So what are you going to do then? Keep coming back and forth between here and Tortall to check? How often, once a day? Twice? Every hour?" He raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms against his chest as he leant against a desk. "Or are you going to complete drain yourself so that even _if_ they call for help, you don't have any way of helping them? Has the Graveyard Hag taken her payment yet?"

Sarah scowled at the man, who looked entirely too smug. "No, not yet. Call your wife. I'm not letting you offer your house for an undefined period of time without consulting her. Because you _know_ NCIS will take their sweet time asking me if Director Shepard has her way."

Stabler smiled and turned to Cragen. "Cap, can I have the rest of the day off? Sarah hasn't been to my house yet, so I need to drive her and her friends, and the bullpen isn't really the place for kids to spend hours at end."

Even as Cragen nodded, Sarah turned back to the detective. "Hey! You haven't called your wife yet!"

"I already know what she's going to say. One of the benefits of being married for as long as we have." He shrugged, and, after receiving a nod from Captain Cragen, he walked to his desk and grabbed his coat. "You coming?"

Sarah scowled, and nodded to Mara, who ushered the kids towards the door. Shaking her head, Sarah looked to Olivia. "How do you put up with him? He's like a dog with a bone…"

"I usually agree with him." She shrugged.

Casey approached with keys in her hands. "Come on, I'll drive you. You'll need two cars to get you all there."

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"Tell me again about traveling through hyperspace." McGee grinned at Ziva, who returned the smile with a smug glance at Tony.

"Oh, I'd be more than happy to Timothy. You see-"

"No." DiNozzo snapped, almost shouting it. "Both of you, shut up! I've already had to listen to McGeek's ramblings about how traveling faster than light is impossible, I've had to listen to your descriptions of every alien species you encountered, I've even had to listen to you detail how to reload a blaster pistol! _Enough!_"

"You still whining, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he walked past the senior field agent to his desk, a Starbucks coffee in his hand. "Just because you didn't get to fly on the only ship to make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs?"

McGee and Ziva had to cover up smirks and laughs, even as Gibbs turned his attention to them. "Well?"

"Abby's running the fingerprint we got off of the bone through AFIS right now, boss. We just have to wait-" McGee began, and winced when he realized he'd just admitted to not doing anything work related since he and Ziva had gotten back. "That is to say… We're rechecking missing persons reports from the week leading up to the murders and the days after it, concentrating on anyone with a connection to Sergeant Matthews to see whether we can identify the other two bodies. I mean, sure we don't actually _know_ that any of the bodies is Matthews, but the ID found by the corpses is all we've got to go by…" The junior agent babbled.

Gibbs had to fight a smirk. "Keep on it, McGee."

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"Honey?" Elliot called as he unlocked the door. Casey followed behind, and the out-of-dimensioners brought up the rear. "Kathy? Are you home?"

"Elliot!" A woman's voice came from down the hall. "What are you doing here so early? Don didn't send you home early again, did he? Please tell me you didn't - oh." The woman, about Sarah's height, had just turned the corner of the corridor when she noticed the large group near the door. "Elliot?"

"Kathy, this is Sarah Gibson, Mara Jade Skywalker and Jaina, Jacen and Anakin Solo. Everyone, meet my beautiful wife, Kathy." He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around the woman, who stepped away, towards the group, hand outstretched.

Sarah could tell the expression on the woman's face was a mask, but she pasted a bright smile on her own regardless. "It's a pleasure, Kathy." She shook the woman's hand.

"The honour is all mine, Miss Gibso-"

"Please, Sarah. Miss Gibson makes me feel old." Sarah interrupted as she shook the woman's hand. "I tried to make Elliot call, but he's the second most stubborn man I've ever met."

"Only second?" Kathy raised an eyebrow, and Sarah grinned.

"King Jon can be worse, but only if I do something to piss him off first."

The woman's smile turned a little uncertain, and she glanced at Elliot before it solidified.

The man seemed to notice the lack of a small child in the woman's arms. "Where's Elliot Junior?"

"I put him to bed about half an hour ago – if we have any luck, he'll sleep for another couple of hours." Kathy confirmed, before turning to the group. "Would you all like to stay for dinner?"

Sarah bit down on her lip to stop herself from laughing and managed a serious nod. "That'd be nice, thanks."

Elliot coughed uncomfortably. Sarah glanced at Casey, who was trying very hard not to look amused. "You know, honey, I actually… invited them to stay with us."

"Oh?" Kathy's voice was too pleasant. "For how long?"

"Kathy, forgive the intrusion. The nature of the situation requires that I be in constant contact with the sixteenth precinct. Mara has come from another dimension to help me deal with a rather delicate situation that NCIS are dealing with, and the kids I'm stuck with until their parents deal with their own delicate situation. Elliot kindly offered your home, but there are a couple of other options we haven't investigated-"

"One of which involves your almost definite collapse from exhaustion, the other could result in you missing a call for help by almost a day – the nature of their investigation means that a day could mean the death of more innocent people, or even their field agents." Elliot rattled off. It was obvious he'd been practicing the lines in the car on the way over, perhaps to use against his wife's objections.

"I'm not going to collapse." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Casey's over exaggerating."

"No she's not." Mara supplied for the detective. "Luke had to bolster her strength with the Force to keep her conscious."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Do you want to be here when they call or not?" Elliot asked pointedly.

Kathy, forgotten, finally made herself heard. "Let's take this into the kitchen. Casey, are you needed back at work?"

"I've got the month off, but Olivia and Fin wanted me to have a look at some evidence, to see whether they have enough for a search warrant. They've got a temporary ADA assigned to the unit, but I know from experience how long it takes for the SVU to trust a new ADA." Casey's voice was very dry.

"Really? You get suckered into work on your month off?" Sarah grimaced, before sticking her tongue out. "Ha, ha." Casey pulled a face at her.

"You'll have to come around for dinner one night, Casey." Kathy smiled at the ADA, who nodded.

"I'd like that."

"I'll give you a call in a few days, and we can arrange a night." Kathy promised.

After Casey left, they moved into the kitchen, and Kathy put on a pot of coffee before making each of the kids a hot chocolate. "Put me down for one of those, too, Kathy." Sarah requested. "I don't do coffee."

"So." Elliot tried.

"So." Kathy replied, back turned to the company as she made the hot chocolates. When she turned around, her face was all business. "Don't get me wrong Sarah, I'm more than happy to invite you into our home, it's just-"

"The complete and utter lack of warning or notice." Sarah supplied helpfully. When the woman nodded, Sarah punched Elliot in the shoulder. "See! I told you, call your wife. You said 'no, I know what she's going to say anyway'."

"And I did know what she was going to say. She'd have been annoyed at the lack of warning whether I'd called her half an hour ago or not. And pretty soon she's going to say 'fine, you can stay if you want'. Just watch." He retorted, before turning to his wife. "Dickie can share a room with Elizabeth for a little while, and we can set up the trundle in his room. I'm sure Jaina, Jacen and Anakin won't mind sleeping on the floor."

Sarah wisely kept quiet. She didn't want to steal his kid's room, but if it meant when NCIS called they'd be able to get in almost instantaneous contact with her, it was a necessary evil. So when Kathy shook her head, she frowned. "That's not what I'm worried about El, and you know it."

"What?" Elliot frowned, deep in thought, before a realisation seemed to strike. "Oh. That."

"Yes. That." Kathy smiled, putting mugs of various beverages down before their guests.

"Yes, what?" Sarah asked, sharing a confused look with Mara. "What's going on?"

"Dickie may have a poster up in his room… of you." Elliot explained haphazardly.

"I'm sorry, _what_?" Sarah's jaw had dropped. "Where the hell did your son get a poster of me from?"

"The invasion. Don't tell me when you were running around fighting the White Martians you didn't notice all the news helicopters flying around getting footage of you and your friends?" Kathy seemed openly amused now.

"Well… no… I was too busy noticing the Martians trying to kill me, but that still doesn't explain-"

"When we first went to Fort Lincoln, to get the military's help, and the Martians attacked?" Elliot prompted. "There was a helicopter recording the entire thing. They took the footage, as well as the footage from the base's security cameras, and refined the images to make posters of you and the rest of the League."

"So? Why wouldn't he have Wonder Woman's poster up? Or Zatanna, hell, Black Canary! He's a teenage boy, for crying out loud!"

"His father is also a friend of yours." Kathy reminded. "Besides which, he thought, oh, what were his words, he thought you looked 'more awesome' because you weren't wearing a fancy costume."

"But how did he know that? I wasn't wearing Earth clothes, I was wearing my normal Tortallan gear. To anyone here, it'd look like I _was_ wearing a costume." Sarah was whining.

"I explained that what you were wearing was what you'd wear down to the markets to look inconspicuous." Elliot admitted.

"Gods, this is embarrassing." Sarah's head thumped to the tabletop. The Solo children were ignoring the entire conversation, engrossed in their hot chocolates, but Mara had a wicked smile on her face.

"I'd simply _love_ to see this poster, Detective Stabler." She had an innocent lilt to her voice, but Elliot saw right through it and donned a grin to match her own.

"I'll be right back."

At his words, he stood and left the kitchen, probably to take down the offending poster and bring it into the kitchen. Sarah thumped her head against the table some more.

"You'll give yourself brain damage if you keep that up." Mara warned.

"I've already got brain damage." Sarah muttered.

"Why would anyone hang a poster of you in their room, Sarah?" Jaina asked with a frown. "Why would anyone _make_ a poster of you?"

Sarah sat up and pointed at the girl. "See?! _She_ has the right of it, what the hell is wrong with this dimension?"

"Sarah's famous here." Mara explained to her niece. "She saved the planet from an invasion of aliens that wanted to enslave all the humans here, so having a poster of her is just like having Rogue Squadron collectibles, or having a poster of a holodrama actor up on the wall."

"Or a picture of space yachts and hyperdrives?"

"No, kid, that's just you." Sarah retorted.

"Pictures of mynocks and nek battle dogs." Jacen smiled triumphantly, as though he understood.

"Again, just you." Sarah shook her head, but Anakin decided to put in his two cents.

"Pictures of-"

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that again, you're the only person with posters of whatever you're about to say on your wall." Sarah interrupted, and groaned as Elliot walked into the room, making trumpeting sounds.

"Dun, da da!" He exclaimed, holding the poster in front of himself.

Mara laughed. "Well someone was in a bad mood when that shot was taken."

"We were being invaded!" Sarah objected. "Of course I was in a bad mood, aliens had just turned up and were shooting at us!"

The picture itself had Sarah holding her short sword in a reverse guard, a ball of magic in her hand, about to be released, and a beam of energy shooting past her head, missing by half a foot. She was crouched slightly in a fighting guard, and overall her facial expression screamed danger.

"It's a good picture of you, I must admit." Elliot's voice was innocent. "Although I think they touched it up a bit – your eyes aren't quite that green-"

"Oh shut up." She snapped back. "Why didn't any of you tell me they'd made _posters _of us?!"

"Where's the fun in that?" Mara answered for the detective, who had to bite his lip to stop from laughing.

Kathy was about to say something when the sound of the front door banging open interrupted her. She looked at the clock on the wall, eyes widening. "Is that the time already? That'll be the kids."

Sarah groaned, and hid her face in her hands. "Tell me you mean Maureen, Kathleen and Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth is in the same grade as Dickie." Elliot reminded her. "Remember? Twins?"

"Yeah, but he's a boy. He's supposed to have detention, or after school sports or something." Sarah muttered, and the footsteps came closer.

"Hey, dad?" A young boy's voice came towards them. "Are you home? Your car's out front- whoa." The boy had entered the room, and grunted when someone collided with his back.

"Move, Dickie!" A girl his age demanded. "What are you just- oh." She'd seen the crowd too.

"Kids, we have guests. Where are you manners?" Kathy asked. Jaina, Jacen and Anakin giggled at the horrified expression on Sarah's face, soon to be covered by her hands once again hiding her.

"Dickie, Elizabeth, I'd like to introduce you to Mara Jade Skywalker, Jaina, Jacen and Anakin Solo, and Sarah Gibson." Elliot continued for his wife.

Sarah, whose face was still buried in her hands, risked moving a couple of fingers to peek through the gap. "Hi."

Dickie had paled considerably, staring at her even as his twin sister snickered. Then he caught sight of the poster on the table, and reddened. "Da-ad! How could you?!" With that outburst, he ran down the corridor, out of the kitchen. They heard his feet thumping on the stairs, and a door slam. By now, his sister was leaning against the doorframe, laughing hysterically.

"Now you've done it." Kathy sent a meaningful glance at Elliot, who gaped.

"Me? You're as much to blame as anyone!"

"But he blamed _you_. You should go and talk to him." Kathy nodded down the corridor, and Elliot sighed, standing.

"Don't worry about it, Elliot." Sarah sighed, standing also. "He thinks you showed me to embarrass him. I'll go and explain to him that the person you were making fun of was me, not him."

"Are you sure? How many times have you had to deal with teenage boys?"

"Uh… never. But how hard can it be?" Sarah grinned at him as she picked the poster up off of the table, rolling it up. "Upstairs…?"

"Third door on the left." Elliot supplied.

Sarah gave Elizabeth a nod as she walked past, taking the stairs cautiously. She found herself on a landing which led to a corridor, with several doors on each side. Picking the third on the left, she gave it a gentle rap. "Dickie?"

Someone shifted on the other side of the door. "Go away!"

She ignored him, opening the door a crack. "Can I come in? I wanted to give you back your poster."

A noncommittal agreement floated through the crack, and Sarah took it as permission, opening the door carefully. Peeking around the door, she saw the teenager sulking on his bed. "We haven't been properly introduced. My name's Sarah."

"Richard." He muttered.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Richard." Sarah made her way fully into the room, glancing around at the other posters of movie stars and sportsmen. She saw a bare area on the wall, and reasoned that that was where her poster went. "I believe this is yours."

"Look, Dad had no right to come into my room-" He began, a rant starting.

"He didn't do it to embarrass you, trust me." Sarah interrupted dryly. "He knew how uncomfortable the existence of posters of _me_ would make me, so he had to embarrass me in front of my friends out there. Mara found it hilarious."

"I just thought it looked cool…" He muttered defensively. "I never thought you'd see it."

"I'm wishing I hadn't." Sarah admitted, taking a seat next to the boy on his bed. "I had no idea they'd even made posters of me and my friends, no one ever told me."

"So Dad did it to humiliate you, and getting me too was just a bonus?" The boy jumped to his feet, arms crossed against his chest.

"No… actually, it just came up. See, I need to stay in this dimension for a while, because a federal agency needs my help to deal with a criminal in DC. The only thing is, I need to be instantaneously contactable, because if they call me, chances are they'll be running on a deadline. So your father offered to let us stay here." Sarah grimaced. "He actually offered your room."

"Do _I_ get a say in any of this?" The boy muttered.

"You know how parents are." Sarah shrugged with a grin. "But if you don't want-"

"No, no, that's alright. You can use my room." He hurriedly insisted. "I just wish Dad'd _ask_ first. Do your parents ever do anything like this?"

Sarah's grin froze on her face. "I haven't spoken to them in three years. My mother reacted badly to my Gift. She's… overly faithful. As you might well know, the Bible frowns on magic."

"So she kicked you out?" He scowled. "What a bitch-"

"Do your parents know you use that language?" Sarah's good humour returned. "But it doesn't matter anymore. Now, I understand your father embarrassed you, so it's only fair that I give _you_ some ammo."

At this, the young boy grinned. "Fair _is _fair."

"Well, let's see here…" Sarah thought back over her association with the detective, and grinned. "Well, he was almost eaten by Spidrens."

"Cool!" The boy exclaimed, excited.

"So not embarrassing?" Sarah asked, disappointed.

"No, that's awesome!" He was grinning ear to ear. Suddenly, he frowned. "What's a Spidren?"

"A giant spider with a human head and really sharp teeth." Sarah explained. "Alright, what else… Ooh, I took him and the rest of the guys from the SVU into a bar that's the headquarters of the King of the Rogue, a friend of mine, he's pretty much the King of Thieves. They were scared _shitless_."

"Why'd he go in there?" Dickie asked in wonder.

"Well, I didn't exactly _tell_ them it was Marek's base. So when we walked in and half the bar greeted me… enthusiastically, he was very… alarmed." A grin passed over Sarah's face. "I have an idea… Just play along, and we'll get your father back for embarrassing us _both_."

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Sarah's voice wafted down the stairs. "Hey, Dickie and I are just going to the Dancing Dove! See you in a few!"

Elliot froze, before jumping to his feet and tearing through the corridor and up the stairs. "No!"

Mara just shook her head, waiting until the detective was halfway up the stairs before turning to a puzzled Kathy and Elizabeth. "Don't worry, they're still here. I can still sense them upstairs, and Sarah's feeling rather mischievous. I think your husband is the butt of some kind of joke."

Kathy relaxed, sitting back in her chair. "How do you know they're still up there?"

"It's just part of a Jedi's abilities." Mara shrugged. "Don't worry, Sarah doesn't just take children without their parents' permission."

"She took us." Jaina pointed out.

"Shut up, kid." Mara snapped. "Besides, she had your parents' permission, and it was to keep you safe while the rest of us escaped the pirate base. Although… shutting up now."

"Although _what_?" Kathy asked, straightening once more.

Mara sighed. "She was talking about kidnapping the kids earlier today."

"_Why?"_ Jaina this time.

"Councillor Fey'lya wanted to use you as bait to lure out the Dark Jedi. She was going to kidnap you to protect you. Leia didn't seem too fazed by the idea." Mara shrugged.

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Elliot tore into the boy's bedroom, glancing around, eyes wide as he realised his son wasn't there. _She didn't – she _wouldn't! "She did…" He whispered out loud, mouth hanging open. That was, until he heard the giggles coming from the closet.

Without another word, he yanked open the closet doors, to reveal Sarah and Dickie, squeezed into their hiding place. Sarah's left foot was in one of the boxes on the floor of the closet, such was the lack of room. "Hey, El. You wanna close the door? We've still got a few minutes left for our game of 'seven minutes in heaven'."

He just glared. "Do you know how scared I was?!"

"Oh, please. I don't take young boys to the Dancing Dove, jeez…" Sarah rolled her eyes. "Don't trust me much, do you?"

"Of course I do." Elliot sighed, even as Dickie nearly split his side laughing hysterically. "I trust you with my life."

"Just not with that of your child?" Sarah quirked an eyebrow.

"Of course-"

"Relax, El. I was just having you on. A little revenge for embarrassing me and my buddy Dickie." Sarah smirked at him, and his jaw dropped.

"You- you-"

Sarah and Dickie breezed past the man as he stuttered at the entrance to the boy's room, and made their way downstairs. They reentered the kitchen just in time to hear Jaina say, "Well Borsk Fey'lya's mother was a Kawokian Spider Monkey." In an impetuous tone.

"And you kiss your mother with that mouth, young lady?" Sarah tried, voice haughty. "I've never heard such a mouth on a child since… never!"

Jaina giggled. "Kawokian Spider Monkey isn't a bad word."

"No, but you called Borsk Fey'lya one." Sarah reminded. "Besides, only his mother? What was his father? A Hutt?"

All three children giggled, and Mara shook her head. "You're confusing your friends." She nodded to Kathy and Elliot. Their children seemed to have taken it all in stride.

"Sorry. Borsk Fey'lya's a pain in the… butt." Sarah revised her language when she realised she was in the presence of five children.

"Are we all sorted, young man?" Kathy asked her son, who grudgingly nodded. "In that case, let me introduce you properly. Sarah Gibson, meet our son Richard, Dickie, and our daughter Elizabeth. Dickie, Elizabeth, meet Sarah Gibson, a friend of your father's."

"Hi Elizabeth, how's it going?" Sarah asked, grinning at the girl who had been laughing at her brother almost nonstop. Now she paled.

"Good…" She murmured quietly, and Sarah sighed.

"Your father's told me a lot about you guys."

"He talks about you all the time too." Elizabeth's voice got softer, if anything.

"None of it's true, I _swear_." Sarah promised.

At the same time, Elliot said, "Only because you two keep bugging me. They're your biggest fans." He addressed Sarah at the last, who blinked.

"I have fans?"

"You have posters." Mara pointed out.

"So do wanted felons, doesn't mean they have fans." Sarah retorted.

"Most of them do too, Sarah." Elliot pointed out, and Sarah shook her head.

Kathy just shook her head. "I'll go get your room organised. Dickie, Elizabeth, come give me a hand."

TBC…

A/n. Interesting Sidebar: Now, for those of you that know anything about astronomy, you'll know that a Parsec is a unit of distance, not time. For a long time I didn't realise that the sentence 'This ship made the Kessel Run in under 12 Parsecs' actually DOES make sense. Because of course, the Kessel Run is a trip through the Maw, which is basically an area of space filled with black holes, so what Han is bragging about is his ability to do it in a shorter distance of time than anyone else. It's like bragging about being able to take a corner sharper than anyone else.

But anyway. Lol.

Read, review, if you want any more interesting science facts, let me know! My brain is full of them!


	9. Chapter 9

A/n: I am SOOOO sorry for the long wait for an update! It was exam time, but that's over now (as of yesterday morning when I had an early 3 hour exam…. Grrr, they shouldn't be allowed to put them on at any time before 11am. I had to get up at 5 in the morning!!! After going to bed at 1!!!!) In other news, I love Redbull. I'm going to marry the can that got me through yesterday morning without falling asleep on the frequency response table of the Chebyshev filter. Be sure to keep your eye out in your local paper for the wedding announcement!

A big thanks to dares to dream, sportygirl, welcome to the black parade and hellbutterfly421 for the reviews and feedback!

Anyway, as it is now the very long break of uni, expect many more updates! And of course, I can expect many more reviews… *looks around hopefully*

Chapter Nine:

"We got a hit off of AFIS. Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Lavigne, thirty three years old, arrested for assault at a dive bar called the 'Subzero' three months ago." DiNozzo sounded smug. "I called said dive bar and _apparently_ our dear friend Danny boy has been back almost every night in the last month. He made quite the impression when he groped the waiter. The bartender couldn't be sure, but she thinks he bought a friend with him the last two weeks."

"DiNozzo, with me. We'll interview the bartender in person." Gibbs started for the elevator, and Tony ran to catch up.

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The minute Sarah had left with the children, Admiral Ackbar had walked in, announcing the formation of a taskforce to track down and deal with the pirates. Since then, things had been moving _very _quickly.

Wraith and Rogue Squadrons had been scrambled, and were already underway to rendezvous with the _Mon Remonda_, a Mon Calamarian warship. All they were waiting on was their commander – General Antilles.

That's what found him at the ramp of a troop transport, speaking quickly to Leia, Han and Luke. "I wish you'd reconsider."

"This is something we have to do, Wedge." Luke replied evenly. "The Force is leading us on our own journey."

"Well, the Force is leading _them_ on their own journey." Han corrected, nodding at his wife and brother in law. "I'm just tagging along."

The General nodded unhappily. "I knew you'd say that. Here." He passed a datapad to Leia. "If you need to get in contact, whether it's because you've found their base, or you need help, whatever, those are the _Mon Remonda's_ encryption codes, and my personal comm frequency."

"You already knew you wouldn't be able to convince us to accompany your group." Leia observed, eyebrows raised.

He shrugged. "What can I say? We've had this conversation before." Giving them a nod, he turned to walk up the ramp to the troop transport. Leia's voice stopped him.

"May the Force be with you."

"With us all." He replied without turning around.

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"Well hello…" DiNozzo spoke softly, a charming smile on his face. He hunched over the bar, staring into the blonde bartender's green eyes. When Gibbs approached, he straightened with a serious look. "My name's Special Agent DiNozzo, this is Special Agent Gibbs. We'd like to ask you a few questions about an incident that occurred three months ago."

"You're the guy I spoke to on the phone about the sleaze?" The bartender asked abruptly.

DiNozzo nodded and pulled a picture out of his pocket, Lavigne's mugshot from his arrest. "Do you recognize this man?"

The bartender nodded as she picked up a glass and started cleaning it off with a cloth, leaning over the bar to give DiNozzo a clear preview of what lay beneath her low cut singlet. DiNozzo's eyes wandered, but Gibbs' were focused on her face as she replied. "Yeah, that's him. Brought some tall pasty guy with him the last four times he's been in here."

"How often does he come in?" Gibbs pressed.

The bartender shrugged, straightening and putting the glass she was cleaning away and picking up another. "Every couple of nights. He was in here last night, so he'll probably be back tomorrow night, maybe the night after."

"And you said he groped a waitress?" DiNozzo returned the conversation, eyebrows raised. "Any chance this waitress is working tonight?"

"She didn't show up for her shift. It started two hours ago." The bartender scowled. "I try _not_ to hire these college kids because they don't turn up for shifts, but she begged me for the chance-"

DiNozzo and Gibbs shared a startled glance. "How did she react to him feeling her up?" Gibbs asked.

"She yelled at him to get out." The bartender shrugged. "It happens every now and then. Truth be told, this is the first shift she's missed in four months…"

"And how did _he_ react to her kicking him out?" DiNozzo pressed.

"He got really angry – they _all_ do. Threatened revenge, but that – oh my god. He couldn't have-" Her eyes widened almost comically, and Tony rushed to assure her.

"I'm sure she's just forgotten about work. Do you have her contact details? We'll chase her up for you."

The woman rummaged through a pile of papers under the bar and produced an address and cell phone number. She passed it over wordlessly, and Gibbs walked out of the bar without another word. DiNozzo glanced after his boss, before fishing into his pocket and pulling out a business card and a pen, scrawling a number on the back.

Flashing the woman a confident smile, he passed it over. "Call me if Lavigne or his friend turn up, or if you remember anything else. _Anything_ at all, no matter how insignificant it may seem." His voice lowered dramatically and waggled his eyebrows. "Cell's on the back."

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Sarah lay on the blow up mattress in the dark, glaring at the spot on the wall where her poster sat. She'd given up the trundle in favor of Dickie having a proper bed to sleep on – after all, he'd given up his room for the five of them. After a heated argument with Mara, Sarah had forced the Jedi to take the bed, reasoning that if Mara tried forcing the issue she'd just get up in the middle of the night and move to the floor, just to be stubborn.

Right at that moment, Sarah was having trouble sleeping, the poster was just too darn distracting. _I can't believe this. I'll have to tell the League. Ollie will be stunned._ Sarah thought, before a realization struck. _They won't care. They probably have posters and trading cards in their dimension. So why am I so uncomfortable? It's just a piece of paper._

Sarah sighed and turned over, onto her side, away from the poster. _I'm uncomfortable because I never expected any of this. I wish I'd been able to keep my secret. Life would be so much easier if I wasn't 'Sarah Gibson, Alien Hunter' or whatever crap they're peddling now._

She shook her head, glancing over her shoulder at the poster again. A face peered down at her in the darkness from the bed beside her. "Go to sleep." Mara's voice was a gruff whisper.

"Sorry." Sarah muttered, and nestled down into her blankets, closing her eyes once more, willing sleep to take her.

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Flashes of images flitted through her vision too quickly for her to understand what she was seeing – she only knew it was bad. Pain filled her, and she writhed, moaning. There were hands on her shoulders, pulling at her, but Sarah tore herself away, eyes squeezed shut.

There was a presence in her mind, worming through her thoughts and feelings, sizzling like fire at every thought it touched, making her thrash in agony, lashing out at whatever was in reach, until bands encircled her wrists, pinning them by her sides, inciting panic at the feeling of being restrained.

"Sarah!" A voice permeated the red haze of fear, and Sarah fought towards the familiarity. "Sarah, wake up!"

She sat bolt upright, eyes wide as she gasped. "Oh, shit." She whispered to herself, sagging in Mara's hold – she was the one that had held her down by the wrists. Kathy was at her head, concern plainly etched on her face. Sarah noticed her pajamas and sheets drenched in sweat, even as she breathed heavily.

"Sarah?" Kathy asked cautiously. "Can you hear me?" Sarah nodded, unable to speak or hold her own weight. Kathy continued, her concern deepening. "Can you tell me how old you are?"

Sarah had to swallow three times before she had enough saliva in her mouth to speak properly. "Twenty one."

"And what day is today?" The obvious questions continued, confusing Sarah.

"Tuesday." She answered anyway.

"And do you know what the nightmare was about?" Kathy asked.

Sarah paused, thinking. "I'm not sure. What's with the questions?"

"Have you experienced night terrors before?" Kathy asked in lieu of an answer.

"Night terrors?" Sarah frowned, shrugging. "When I was a kid, apparently, yeah, but I was too young to remember. Why?"

"I think you just had one. You haven't had any in your adolescent or adult life?" Kathy pressed, and Sarah shook her head.

"Nothing like that. I've had nightmares – who hasn't – but nothing like that." She was shaking, she realized, and willed herself to stop. It only made the tremors worse.

Suddenly there was a pair of small arms around her, hugging her tight. "You were crying." Jaina told her quietly.

"I'm fine now, sweetie. It was just a bad dream." Sarah promised, returning the hug one handed. Jaina's brothers joined their sister, and Sarah used her other hand to hug them tight.

Kathy waited until they'd released her before nodding out the door. "Kids, why don't you go downstairs and get yourselves some breakfast? The bowls are in the cupboard next to the fridge, and the cereal is in the pantry."

They shot Sarah a look before doing as requested. Sarah sank back down to the mattress, letting her head fall back against the pillow. "I'm fine. I'm alright." She breathed, not quite believing it herself.

"Elliot told me what happened to you during the invasion. How the White Martian's-"

"I don't want to talk about it." Sarah warned. "So don't go there."

"You need to talk about it, or you'll keep having night terrors." Kathy's voice was soft. "You need to resolve whatever feelings of fear you have left-"

"I've never needed to before." Sarah forced herself back into a seated position, before getting up onto her knees and standing, only to sit back down on Mara's bed. Her knees were still very shaky.

"Sarah…" It was Mara this time, a guarded look on her face. "I've never felt such terror from you before, not even when you were up against Runorlan by yourself."

"Just… can you two leave?" Sarah asked shortly. "Just give me a minute?"

Kathy and Mara shared a glance and left without another word, and Sarah sighed. She took a few deep, meditative breaths to calm herself, and forced herself to think it through objectively. _J'onn_ _said that I'd be able to function during the invasion, but that it'd get worse later. But why now? He said I'd remember the pain in a couple of hours, not weeks._ Sarah frowned, before standing, pushing her hair out of her face. _I remembered it then. I just didn't let myself feel it. So why is it coming up _now_? It's not as though I _want _to relive it now._

Sighing, Sarah stood and scrubbed her face. _I'm probably not going to get a choice in the matter. I guess I've got some sleepless nights coming. I just don't get why I'm reliving it _now _and not weeks or days ago._

Sarah shook her head, making her way out of the bedroom and down the stairs, brushing her hair out of her face again. When she entered the kitchen, she saw the kids staring at the bottle of milk on the table. "Sarah, what is that? Mrs. Stabler says it's milk, but it's _white_. Is it off?" Anakin asked with distrust.

"No, milk's white here." Sarah replied, sharing a grin with Kathy. "It comes from cows, not nerfs."

"But-"

"Trust me, Kathy's not about to feed spoilt milk to her children, or you." For the mother's benefit, Sarah explained. "Milk there is blue."

"Ah."

"But, Sarah-" Jacen asked, still not trusting the white milk.

Sarah held up a silencing hand and walked to the cabinet, pulling down a glass and pouring herself a small portion of the white liquid and gulping it down in one shot. "There, happy?" She asked. They settled down to their breakfast, and Sarah turned to Kathy. "Where's Mara?"

"Outside." The woman answered, staring at Sarah for a moment longer than was acceptable, before turning to her youngest son, sitting in his highchair, drooling.

"And Dickie, Elizabeth and Elliot?" Sarah took a seat beside Jaina, stealing the girl's spoon and eating a spoonful of her Fruit Loops before the girl snatched the spoon back.

"Elliot was called in early this morning, apparently there was a break in whatever case they're working on. Dickie and Elizabeth got on the bus about ten minutes before you… woke up." Kathy explained.

Sarah just nodded, her gaze drifting off, her face troubled. Kathy grimaced, before trying to get the young woman's attention. "Would you like some breakfast?" Sarah didn't reply. "Sarah?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry." She tried for a sheepish grin that barely counted as a grimace. "I was off in my own little world."

"Did you want something to eat?" Kathy repeated, watching Sarah closely.

The thought of food made Sarah grimace, and she shook her head. "No, thankyou. I'm not hungry." Sarah resumed staring into her own world, and Kathy sighed, mind returning to the task of feeding her youngest son his morning meal.

When that was finished, she took the Solos empty bowls and put them in the dishwasher, mindful of the younger woman still staring into space, lost in thought. "Why don't you kids go play in the living room? Sarah and I have to have a little chat." Kathy finally said, snapping Sarah out of her funk, even as the kids complied, leaving the room.

"What did you want to talk about, Kathy?" Sarah asked warily. She knew what was coming.

"Have you spoken to anyone about what happened?" The words were first out of her mouth, and the look on her face brooked no nonsense.

"I don't need to-" Sarah began, exasperated, but Kathy cut her off.

"I'm a nurse at the hospital, I work a lot of nights." Kathy interrupted. "I've seen the occasional rape victim, and I've read up on the symptoms of rape trauma syndrome. You're acting just like one."

Sarah blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Your mind was violated, Sarah. Elliot told me everything about the invasion. How you were assaulted, but got right back up and marched into that fortress-"

"It was an underground ship, not a fortress." Sarah interrupted, before Kathy's glare silenced her.

"You never let yourself feel the assault-"

"Once was more than enough. As it was, I felt it _twice_ when the second one did it, so I don't need to experience it again." Sarah had recovered from the shock of being confronted so suddenly. Now she stood, ready to make her way into the living room where the kids and relative safety lay, but Kathy blocked her way.

"Sit down, Sarah. I'm not finished yet." Sarah was shocked enough to oblige the woman. She'd never been ordered around so abruptly by someone looking to make her open up about her feelings. "If this is the first time you've experienced night terrors, it means you're mind is finally ready to deal with what happened. But you've got to let it. Elliot told me you eat like a horse. He specifically warned me last night that I might need to do an extra couple of food shops just to accommodate _your_ appetite. So why aren't you hungry this morning?"

Sarah frowned. "I've got the right to skip breakfast every once in a while-"

"Do you have trouble getting to sleep?" Kathy pressed, and Sarah's frown deepened.

"I've had trouble getting to sleep for years-"

"Since you became Messenger?"

"Yeah, about then. What are you getting at-"

"Rape victims-"

Sarah's face turned sceptical. "Look, Kathy, I appreciate the concern-"

"Are you having headaches?" The woman asked calmly.

"I always have some reason or another to have the occasional migraine." Sarah answered, defensive. "I've had several emergencies going at once recently, in case you don't remember."

"And that's your coping mechanism. Some victims resort to drugs, or self mutilation, or rely heavily upon their religion to get themselves through their trauma. You make sure you're too damn busy to feel the pain. You help people to help yourself." Kathy diagnosed.

"I've had just about enough of this." Sarah stood again, glaring at the woman. "What gives you the right to psychoanalyse me? You're not a trained professional."

"But you know one." Kathy stood also, looking Sarah dead in the eye. "Why don't you speak to George about what happened?"

"George has been trying to get his grubby little paws inside my head since I first met him." Sarah retorted sourly. "I don't do shrinks."

"I've done all the reading, Sarah." Kathy's voice softened. "It all fits. You need to sort through your problems."

"I'm. Fine." Sarah forced out through gritted teeth.

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Luke bolted upright, his sleep interrupted by a feeling in the Force. Mara was concerned. Concerned enough that he was woken through their connection – something had happened. Before he could leave the sleeping quarters on the _Falcon_ to see whether Leia had sensed anything from the kids, she was at the door. "Luke?"

"What did you feel?" He asked her, blinking to adjust to the change in light as she turned the lights up. He'd decided to travel with his sister and brother-in-law rather than the other Jedi, who were following in the Academy's ship.

"The children are scared." She answered grimly. "What about Mara?"

"She's concerned. I don't think it has to do with the investigation though." Luke frowned thoughtfully. "The feeling's fading. My guess is, whatever happened, it's over now."

Leia focused inwardly and nodded. "The children's fear is fading too." She snapped back to herself, glancing at her brother. "We'll be coming up on the Fyrth system in a few minutes – Han's contact said there was a new smuggling operation running out of its asteroid belt."

"I'll be up in a moment, Leia." Luke gave her a nod, dismissing her, and scrubbed his face. He only hoped he hadn't sent his wife into more danger than he had anticipated.

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Kathy had sent them into the living room to play and shut the door to the kitchen, causing Jaina, Jacen and Anakin to share a glance. "I wish they wouldn't treat us like kids." Anakin grumbled.

"I don't think Sarah wants to have the talk they're about to have." Jacen stated sagely.

"I wonder how mom and dad are doing?" Jaina asked. "We should get Sarah to call them when Mrs Stabler's finished talking to her."

"But that could be _ages_. What are we supposed to do until then?" Anakin asked. That was when they saw the computer sitting on a desk in the corner of the living room.

It took them scant seconds to figure out how to turn it on, and soon they were waiting for the machine to start up. "Come on… this is so slow!" Jaina groaned, dropping to her knees in front of the tower. "And it's so hot!"

"Now, Jaina, don't get any ideas…" Jacen warned, but his twin's eyes had already lit up.

"I bet if I can increase the efficiency of the cooling system, I can get it to run faster and smoother." A sly looked crossed the girl's face as she pulled out her multitool. "Let's see what we have here."

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"Enough of this. You're really barking up the wrong tree. _I wasn't raped._" Sarah stood for the final time and pushed open the door to the living room, Kathy not far behind. The mother almost ran into her back when Sarah pulled up short, eyes wide. "Jaina, honey, what are you doing to the computer?"

"All done!" The girl pronounced proudly, and lifted the casing to the tower back in place.

Kathy's jaw had dropped. "That's not a toy, sweetheart-"

"I know. I just made it faster." Jaina shrugged and pressed the power button.

"Jaina, I sure hope you did, cause I can't pay for a new computer if you've broken this one." Sarah's voice was tinged with exasperation, but her face turned shocked when the computer actually turned on, seemingly without a problem.

"How did… She just…" Kathy stared at the nine year old, who was folding up her multitool, looking incredibly self satisfied. "It hasn't started up that quickly in months. What did you do?"

"I just cleaned out the fan and repaired the connections between that and the power source." Jaina shrugged. "It wasn't that big a deal."

"Next time, ask permission first kiddo." Sarah sighed, shaking her head. "Come on, let's head outside and see what Mara's doing."

Just as Sarah was about to walk past Kathy, the older woman grabbed her arm. "You need to talk this through."

"I need to be left alone." Sarah retorted, shaking her arm free. "I mean no rudeness, but it's none of your damn business what happened to me."

Kathy let it go at that, _finally_¸ and Sarah joined the kids outside, to see Mara sitting on the steps of the back porch, staring into space. "Earth to Mara…" Sarah waved a hand in front of the woman's face. Mara's hand shot out quickly and captured Sarah's wrist.

"Don't. We should call Leia, found out how everything's going there." The redhead fixed Sarah with a pointed look, and the knight sighed, pulling off the pendant.

"And, of course, how Luke's going?" Sarah asked dryly as she passed the pendant to Mara.

"I can still sense him. He's alright." Mara shook her head. "He's worried."

Sarah's face turned interested. "Can you tell why?"

"Probably about me. I was worried about you this morning, and he felt it." Mara shrugged, as though she hadn't just said that, and Sarah sighed, shaking her head, and walked away, to the middle of the backyard. There, she settled down into some stretches.

Mara watched her walk away as she willed the pendant to work. "Leia?"

"Mara?" The woman sounded relieved. "What was going on this morning? The kids were scared, Luke said you were worried-"

"Sarah had a nightmare." Mara explained.

She could hear the frown on her sister-in-law's face. "Sarah's had a lot of nightmares. What was different about this morning?"

"Kathy, the woman we told you about last night, said it was a 'night terror'. Something about Sarah's recent experiences manifesting in a feeling of intense fear and panic." Mara replied, watching as the younger woman sank into the splits and bent over one knee, moving slowly, obviously mindful of the injuries that still adorned her body. "She may have had nightmares before, but even she admitted it wasn't like this. This was much, much worse."

"Is she alright now?" Leia asked, concerned.

"She'll tell you she's fine. But I wouldn't be surprised if she had another one tonight. She's not dealing with whatever it is that caused it this morning, she's just ignoring it." Mara sighed and gestured Jaina, Jacen and Anakin over, who had been hovering on the porch, wanting to speak to their parents. "The kids want to speak to you."

Mara left them to speak to their mother and stood, brushing herself off before making her way down the steps to where Sarah was stretching. "Let's spar."

"You want a rematch?" Sarah asked, skeptical. "I didn't bring my sword, sorry."

"Hand to hand. I've never believe the SoroSuub training droids to be a proper example of skill. Let's see how good you really are." Mara didn't waste any time dropping into a fighting stance. Instead, she just aimed a punch at Sarah's head.

The Shang in training sighed in defeat as she blocked the strike, before bringing her left leg swinging towards Mara's head. The redhead blocked and used an open palm strike to knock the breath out of her lungs, forcing Sarah off of her feet and onto her back.

"Your head's not in the fight." Mara observed, before launching herself at the younger woman, even as she lay on the ground.

Sarah's eyes widened, and she rolled over to avoid a boot to the chest, forcing herself up and onto her feet in one fluid movement, keeping an eye on Mara. "You really want a good fight?"

"Yes."

"Then give a girl a bit of warning next time." She retorted, throwing a punch at her opponent's head for good measure. Mara blocked it and delivered an elbow to the head that threw Sarah onto her back and left her reeling.

"You're out of practice." Mara pointed out.

"I am not." Sarah muttered as she sat up.

Kathy had been watching from the kitchen window while she fed Elliot Junior; now she ran out into the backyard. "Are you alright? Don't move-"

"Trust me, Kathy, I've been hit _much_ harder before." Sarah forced herself to her feet. "I'm fine, don't worry."

Kathy turned her attention to Mara. "What were you _thinking_?"

"That Sarah's supposed to be a bigger challenge to beat than that." Mara replied, before walking back into the house.

Sarah massaged her jaw as she stared after the redhead. Kathy carefully drew the younger woman's hands away. "Here, let me have a look at that."

"She's right." Sarah admitted. "My head wasn't in the fight. There's no way even as skilled a fighter as Mara should have been able to beat me that quickly. What's worse, I'm out of practice. I've been too busy running around dealing with each crisis as it comes up, I haven't given myself a chance to stay in shape, stay in practice." She winced as Kathy poked at a tender spot. "I'm fine, really."

"Sarah!" Jaina called from the porch. They'd ignored the entire scene, having seen it all before. "Uncle Luke wants to talk to you!"

The knight groaned and trotted up to the porch, accepting the pendants back from Jaina. "Hey, Luke, what's up?"

"How are the kids coping with the differences between here and there?" Luke asked.

"Pretty well, I think." Sarah frowned. That wasn't where she'd expected the conversation to go. "Jaina 'fixed' the Stablers' computer this morning."

She heard amusement on Luke's voice. "Yes, I heard about that. And Mara, how's she coping? I heard you let her win the match."

"'Let' is a pretty strong word. I lost, fair and square." Sarah shrugged, even though he couldn't see her. "I'm just out of practice."

"Are you sure something isn't distracting-"

"And there it is." Sarah muttered to herself. "Luke, I'm fine. Also, mind your own business."

"It is my business when my niece and nephews, and wife, are all concerned enough about you that it wakes me through my connection to them. When we were still on our way to the Firkan system, Casey explained to Leia what happened to you, and Leia told me. You need-"

"To not be psychoanalysed? Gee, Luke, you read my mind." Sarah interrupted sarcastically. "Why can't everyone just stick to the important stuff? Tell you what – you worry about you, I'll worry about me, and we can all do our jobs? How's the hunt going?"

"We're on our way to investigate a lead one of Han's old smuggler friends provided. I'll update you as soon as we have anything." Luke promised. "Now -"

"Is that all Luke?" Sarah asked, voice pained. "Yes? Do you want to speak to anyone else? No? Alright, nice speaking to you. Bye." With that, she severed the connection to the amber pendant forcefully before slipping it back over her head and heading inside.

TBC…

Read and review!!!


	10. Chapter 10

A longer chapter for you all this time!

Chapter 10:

"Mara." Sarah was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, where the redhead was sitting, with a cup of coffee half drank beside her.

"Sarah." The woman gave her a nod, sliding the chair next to her out with a foot. "Come sit down. What did Luke have to say?"

"Just what you'd expect from an overly worrisome farmboy. How're the kids coping, how're you coping?" Sarah shrugged. "The usual."

"They're worried about you." Mara pointed out.

"I'm fine." Sarah objected, frustrated. "Why won't anyone believe me?"

Mara pretended to think about the question for a moment before answering. "Because you're lying?"

"I am not." Sarah muttered, before sighing. "Can I ask you something?" Mara nodded once, and Sarah plowed onward. "This morning, when you were trying to wake me, did you try using the Force to enter my mind?"

Mara frowned. "I don't know the first thing about doing that kind of thing… besides, it's the kind of ability that's very risky to use."

Sarah winced. "I was afraid you'd say that."

"Sarah, really, you should talk-"

"I'm fine." Sarah repeated, frustrated.

"You are _not._" Mara replied in a singsong voice.

Kathy chose the wrong moment to enter the room, receiving a full glare from Sarah. "Oh, please that look's nothing. You should have seen Maureen when Elliot told her she wasn't dating until she was at least thirty." The woman didn't pay much heed to the look, before continuing. "And I thought you'd like to know Elliot gave me some _warning_ this time when he invited Casey, Olivia, Don, Fin, Munch and George around for dinner tonight. We're having a barbeque. Apparently they caught the latest crim, and he confessed to the murders after waiving his right to a lawyer, now all that's left is the sentencing. I think Elliot wants to celebrate the perp making their lives _easier_ for once."

Sarah let her head hit the table as she slumped. _Perfect. Just perfect. More people to psychoanalyse me._

"That means we've got to go shopping." Kathy added.

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It had started out so well. They were walking along the aisle of the local supermarket, just Sarah, Kathy and Elliot Jnr. The trolley was half full, and so far, Sarah had avoided any uncomfortable situations with Kathy, _or_ the general public. One of those was about to change.

"Oh my God, Paul! It's her!" A high pitched voice came from behind Sarah, and the young woman stiffened, sharing a glance with Kathy.

"Just keep walking, pretend not to hear." Kathy advised out of the corner of her mouth, and they walked to the end of the aisle, hoping that when they turned into the next, the voice wouldn't follow.

"Paul! Look, look! Sarah! Sarah, wait!" The voice was getting closer now, and Sarah winced, biting back a groan. As they turned into the next aisle, a figure popped up in front of them.

It was a shortish woman, chubby with a bright smile pasted on her face. She had a merry countenance, which showed when she spoke. "Sarah Gibson! I'm Tanya, and the man behind you is my husband Paul. We are _so_ grateful for your help during the invasion, who knows where we'd be if your friends hadn't pitched in!"

The woman chortled. _God, what drug is she on?!_ Sarah wondered as she debated trying to get a word in edgewise. Before she could realise that she had nothing to say to this madwoman, whose husband was looking mortified at her behaviour, Tanya was talking again.

"So, are you here for a bit of shopping?" She didn't give Sarah the chance to respond with a sarcastic, 'duh!', instead she continued. "I normally don't come here, there's a little organic grocer that I normally go to, but I frankly couldn't be bothered driving there today, and boy am I glad I did!" Another chortle. The woman didn't seem to see the expression on Sarah's face, or she might have realised what Sarah thought of busybodies that talked too much.

The scene she was causing had attracted a number of other people, who were standing a short distance away from Sarah, Kathy and Elliot Jnr, staring. Now they started edging closer, and the young boy was growing agitated. It wasn't soon before he was crying. "Aw, poor baby!" Tanya began, stepping closer, a hand outstretched to placate the boy, or perhaps tickle him in an attempt to change his mood from belligerent to cheery. Sarah stepped between the child and the woman, a warning look in her eyes.

Kathy glanced repeatedly between Sarah and Tanya, before clearing her throat. "I'm just gonna… go. And… pay for this. I'll meet you by the car, Sarah."

Sarah didn't acknowledge her as she walked away, instead she kept staring at Tanya with the unfriendly look in her eye. "Thankyou, Tanya." She spoke evenly, not betraying any emotion whatsoever. "Your gratitude isn't necessary, but I appreciate it."

The woman lost some of her cheer. "Sarah, did I do something-"

"Not at all, Tanya." Sarah's voice was anything but reassuring. "I hope you have a nice day."

She tried pushing past, but another woman grabbed her arm. "Miss Gibson-"

"Sarah!"

"God, you people, leave her alone!" A man scowled, pushing his way past. Sarah let her relief show on her face. He stood by her side, glaring everyone away. "She's entitled to her privacy. Go on, get out of here!"

The crowd dissipated, grumbling, and the man turned to Sarah, a grin on his face. "Charles."

"Sarah." She took the hand he offered, giving it a firm shake.

"Well, Sarah, what would you say if I told you you could get a cool twenty thousand for a sit down interview? I work for-"

"Gods!" Sarah shouted, yanking her hand away from his. Without another word, she focused on the spot right outside the passenger door on the car they'd driven to the shopping complex. When she reappeared, she ducked down, out of sight behind another car, and waited for Kathy.

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That's where Kathy found her. Crouching next to the passenger side door, a scowl on her face. "Stop cowering and help me unload the trolley."

"I'm not cowering!" Sarah snapped as she straightened, glancing surreptitiously around. "I'm affecting a tactical retreat while I await backup. You left me in that- that hoard, all by myself!"

Kathy seemed amused, but when Sarah stood she noticed people looking her way. Quickly, she stole Kathy's sunglasses, and put them on. Next, she bowed her head and pulled up the collar of her shirt, to hide her face. "Let's just get the hell out of dodge, okay?"

Quickly, they worked to put all of the groceries in the trunk of the car, and Sarah returned to trolley to the corral while Kathy strapped Elliot Jnr in. Some of the people that were staring had started slowly towards them, so Sarah ran back to the car and jumped in the front seat. "Floor it!"

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"Jacen, buddy, don't get too close to that cat." Elliot called from the barbeque as he flipped the steaks over onto their uncooked sides. "It's vicious. I had to take Elizabeth to the doctors to get a tetanus shot last time it came near any of us."

Jacen just waved back at the man as he continued after the neighbour's cat. Sarah shrugged. "He's got a way with animals. He'll be fine."

Cragen raised an eyebrow. "And if he's not?"

"Then he'll have learnt a valuable lesson about not chasing after strange animals." Sarah shrugged.

The man laughed and shook his head. "I hear you had a bit of fun this afternoon, shopping with Kathy."

Sarah scowled. "Fun. Yeah. Right. _Fun_."

"It's your fault for standing up in front of a camera and telling the whole story-" Elliot began, but Sarah interrupted.

"I thought everyone here hated me and the Justice League. I _thought_ they thought we were here to try and take over the world or something. So why the hell are there posters of us, and why would anyone want to be _friendly_ in the supermarket with me. I thought they'd make a hole when they saw us coming!" Sarah fumed. "But _noooo_-"

"That's the price of fame." Cragen interrupted, a slight grin on his face. "As to everyone thinking you're here to take over the world… they were… _dissuaded_ of that point of view about during the week."

Sarah frowned, speaking carefully. "How…?"

Munch had heard the query as approached the three by the barbeque, and he fielded the question. "They waited outside the temporary one six for us a few times. We'd all decided not to speak to the press about you and your friends, but after the third day of stupid questions like 'what are their plans for world domination', the Captain here decided to explain the situation to them, properly."

Sarah blinked at the man. "And that worked?"

"Well, I had some help from everyone." Cragen shrugged, with a small grin.

"What I would have paid to see that…" She murmured, unable to help the smile that grew on her face.

"Kathy taped it when they replayed it on the evening news." Elliot replied. "It's probably still in the VCR." Turning to the conspiracy theorist, he handed him the tongs. "Here, Munch, take over while I show her the tape."

"Do you _want_ burnt food?" The detective asked pointedly. "Because, I can do burnt."

"Suck it up, John." Elliot shook his head, and grabbed Sarah's arm to drag her inside.

"Really, El, it's fine." Sarah pulled herself away, grinning. "I thank you all for your support against the evilness that is the media, but I'd prefer my food cooked, not burnt. Just focus on the barbeque."

Sarah walked away from the trio by the barbeque, heading for Casey and Olivia, who were talking with Kathy. When they noticed her, they stopped talking suddenly. "Gee, I wonder who you three could have been talking about?" Sarah asked sarcastically. "Let me guess, George."

"In a roundabout way, yes." Casey answered, and Sarah pulled a face at her.

"So first day back on the job after your holidays are so rudely interrupted and you manage to get a rapist to waive his rights to an attorney and confess to all his crimes. You should go on rescue missions more often – it becomes you." The knight tried.

The attorney didn't get a chance to respond as Jacen approached the group, a very relaxed feline in his hands. "I don't know what Mr Stabler was talking about." He pronounced, even as the cat reached up to rub it's cheek against his own, purring loudly. "She's very nice."

Sarah shook her head. "You know, one day, you'll meet an animal you can't tame. Just make sure it's not a Krayt Dragon when you do."

He just grinned cheekily and made his way over to where his siblings and the Stabler twins were hanging out. Anything Kathy, Olivia or Casey were going to say was interrupted by the loud arrival of two more guests. "Sorry we're late, but _someone_ forgot to change the oil in the car and we broke down!" The younger woman was glaring at the other, who just flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"How was I supposed to know the oil needed changing?" She asked. "It's _your_ car."

"But _you_ were driving. You're supposed to check these things!" The younger again.

"Girls, girls, you got here, that's all that matters." Kathy was shaking her head as she approached the two.

Elliot, however, had his eyes narrowed. "How'd you get the car started again?"

"Oh, we flagged down this guy-" And just like that, silence reigned as all the detectives for the SVU stared at the girl. "Uh, I mean… we totally changed the oil ourselves."

"You flagged down a complete stranger while you were _stranded_ on the side of the road and asked for help?" Elliot's voice was too kind, and Sarah winced.

"Look, dad, it wasn't that big a deal-" The older one began, but the younger one interrupted her.

"Not everyone's a rapist, dad." Her tone of voice showed just how foolish she thought her father was.

"No, but there are enough out there to make what you did incredibly-" Elliot was getting very angry, very quickly.

"Hey, is that who I think it is?" The younger one interrupted him, argument forgotten as she walked past her father, staring at Sarah, who let out a small sigh.

"Yes, it is." Kathy confirmed for the woman, who broke out in a large grin.

"Have you seen the poster in Dickie's room yet? He's got the biggest crush-"

"Kathleen!" The boy exploded. "I do not!"

Sarah turned red, resisting the urge to cover her face with her hands. To Olivia, she muttered, "Shoot me. Shoot me now."

"I think it's cute." Olivia replied wickedly.

Sarah pulled a face at Olivia before stepping forward, towards the two new arrivals. "Hi, I'm Sarah. You must be Kathleen," She nodded to the girl who had asked about the poster, "And Maureen."

"How did you know our names?" Maureen asked as she stepped forward to shake Sarah's hand after Kathleen was finished.

"Your father's mentioned you a couple of times, and he's got a picture of the lot of you on his desk." Sarah explained, nodding to the still unhappy detective. Cragen had taken over tending to the meat while he fumed.

"He talks about _you_ all the time too." Kathleen replied, still grinning wickedly. "Dickie just won't stop asking questions-"

The boy let out a long suffering moan, and Sarah glanced back at the kids to see Jacen consoling him. The knight let a small smile cross her face, trying for genial. "Dickie was actually kind enough to give up his room so we'd all have a place to sleep."

"There are _five_ of you in the one room?" Maureen screwed up her nose, before turning on her father. "Why didn't you just move Elliot Junior back into your room-"

"Really, none of us need much room. I'd be happy in the backyard." Sarah assured, grinning at Elliot. "I'd actually prefer the backyard, but judging how your father performed camping in Tortall, you don't have any camping equipment."

"What, wait. He wasn't lying when he said he'd been there?" Kathleen turned on her father too. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

"I did." The man replied defensively. "None of you believed me."

"I believed you." Kathy stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"Only after Captain Cragen, Liv, Fin, Munch, Casey _and_ George confirmed it." He countered.

"Well, what did you expect, Dad? I mean, you told us you'd been to _another dimension._" Maureen shrugged helplessly. "It was a little unbelievable."

"Just a little?" Sarah asked, a wide grin on her face. "You should have seen _my _reaction when it happened the first time. I thought I was still dreaming. I landed in the _middle_ of the ballroom, in the _middle_ of a Midwinter ball, in my nightie. And I was certain that if I walked _out_ of the ballroom I'd end up in a party full of clowns. It was all very surreal."

"What made you believe it?" Kathleen asked. "I mean, if someone told me that I'd just been moved between dimensions to do some kind of 'mission'-"

"You'd tell them where to shove it, right?" At the girl's nod Sarah continued. "Oh, I did that too. I told Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess to go to hell. But then, when I woke up the next morning still in Tortall, I realised it was pretty much all true."

"So how'd Dad react?" Kathleen asked with an impish smile.

"Well, the first time he went there was when I had to grab a friend of mine to help with a situation we were dealing with. Your father was silent for the entire time. He didn't say a single word, not even when I dragged him and Casey into the ballroom, that's right, there was _another_ ball going at that time, and I dragged both him and Casey into the ballroom and straight to the throne, all of us wearing sweat shirts and jeans." Sarah grinned at the detective.

"Hey, to be fair, we'd never seen a castle before." He objected.

"Excuses, excuses." Sarah shrugged, before turning back to his children, a wicked grin on her face. "You should have _seen _your father try to ride a horse. Never have I seen a group of people do worse at their first time."

"I'll have you know I've ridden a horse before." Munch interrupted, indignant. "That's how I knew the saddle wasn't done up properly."

"Oh, we're gonna play it _that_ way, are we Sarah?" Elliot added, a wicked gleam to his eye. "Well, kids, Olivia had Sarah thrown into Bellevue because she thought someone with the story about other dimensions _had_ to be insane."

"Yeah, whatever Dad." Dickie waved a hand at him as he and his sister approached, eager looks on their faces. "Tell us about the time he was almost _eaten._"

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"So this guy, Sir Ansil of Groten, called Casey a who-"

"A naughty word." Munch interrupted dryly.

Sarah looked around and seemed to realise there were several young children there, and shrugged unapologetically. "Yeah, right, a 'naughty word', and your father," She shook her head, a large grin on her face as she continued. "Your father steps right up to him and calls him… another naughty word, and Groten slaps him in the face with a riding glove."

"A riding glove?" Kathleen had a look of disbelief on her face. "Ooh, scary man."

"I know!" Sarah was getting into the story, her plate of food left on her lap half eaten and forgotten. "Anyway, apparently, because I wasn't there at the time, I was too busy meeting with my friend Daine and her parents, apparently your father just gives him a look like 'what the hell?' and goes to hit him back, but Groten was trained by the crown, like the rest of us knightly types, so, and it pains me to admit this, it pains me oh so much, he's not too shabby a fighter – no where near my league, though. Seriously, if his league were to blow up, I wouldn't hear the sound from the explosion for _days. A_nyway Groten blocks your father's punch and tells him nuh uh, we're doing it on the duelling fields. So you're father's like… you're on."

Casey smiled at Elliot. "I appreciate the defence of my honour, El. I really do-"

"But he would have torn you to shreds." Sarah interrupted helpfully. "Anyway, I'm _blissfully_ unaware of what has transpired between your father and the worst fencer at court-"

"If he's the worst fencer at court, why did you say that Dad would have been torn to shreds?" Dickie frowned.

"Because Sarah measures the skill of the fencers in Tortall against her own. Compared to her, almost all of the fencers there are 'the worst fencers at court'." Olivia told the boy. "She really is something else with a sword."

"Oh, please. That's just because I know that if I _don't_ practice, Wildcat will quite literally kill me." Sarah waved a hand at the detective, before continuing. "So I'm in the middle of meeting my friend's parents for the first time, and Daine gets a knock on the door, and there's Casey. And she's like… um… hi everyone… Sarah, Elliot's been challenged to a duel. And I'm like, so? He didn't accept did he? And Casey kind of had this _look_ on her face and we were all like, Gods, Elliot, _why_ did you do that?"

The kids were engrossed in the story. Sarah shared a grin with Kathy, who was holding Elliot's hand in her lap as she listened to the story. Elliot had a look of patient suffering on his face. "So Dad had to fight this guy-"

"Oh, hell no!" Sarah interrupted Elizabeth, her grin growing. The rest of the SVU were listening with varying levels of amusement as Sarah recounted the events of their first stay in Tortall colourfully. Her voice lowered dramatically, as though sharing a secret with the kids. "No, there's this little rule that I like to use. It's called Bylaw Fifty Two A, and it basically states that only nobles are allowed to duel, and that if a commoner is challenged by a noble it's the commoner's liege lord that has the responsibility of fighting in their place. Now, your father and the rest of these guys had absolutely _no_ status in Tortall. None at all, so I could make up whatever status I wanted, but I hadn't thought of that, _luckily._ I mean, I _could_ have introduced them all as 'Lord Stabler of New York' or 'Lady Olivia of the Sixteenth Precinct', but if I had, I wouldn't have been able to use Bylaw Fifty Two A. You should have _seen _Groten's face when he realised it was me he was facing, not some guy who didn't know how to fight."

"Hey!" Elliot objected, and Sarah glanced up at him before amending her statement distractedly.

"Oh, sorry, some guy who didn't know how to fight _well_."

Olivia had a large grin on her face as she nudged her partner. "Better, El?"

"No." He muttered.

"Sorry." Sarah's voice was unapologetic.

"And did you beat him?" Dickie asked, eager.

Sarah just pulled a face. "Oh, please. I could beat him in my sleep."

"She almost had to, too." Casey gave Sarah a nod. "She was still exhausted from over exerting herself the day before."

"Oh, please. I'd have to have a foot in the grave for Groten to stand a chance against me." Sarah flapped a hand at the attorney.

"You've fought him enough to know that?" Kathy seemed impressed.

"She fought him when we were there, too." Jaina supplied.

"He's my favourite punching bag- that is to say, conservative. He's got deep pockets, too." Sarah grinned. "It paid for these guys to get court clothes."

"You should see her fight with a sword. It's _incredible_." Jacen added with a grin. "Her and Aunt Mara fought to a draw when she was still trying to prove to everyone she was telling the truth about being from another dimension and being able to fight."

"Ooh! Can we!" Dickie asked excitedly.

"Sorry, kiddo, but we're short a couple of swords." Elliot shook his head, sharing a grin with Sarah.

"But we've got a broom stick!" The boy got up and raced into the house, only to return with the handles from both the broom _and_ the mop. Sarah had to suppress a laugh, even as Mara stood.

"You up to it?" The redhead asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kathy cleared her throat. "I don't think it's really appropriate…"

Sarah looked around the assembled group, noticing eagerness on the faces of the Stabler and Solo children, a smug look on Fin's face, while Munch's was, as usual, devoid of most emotions. Cragen had a small smile on his face, he just shrugged when he noticed Sarah's gaze. The interesting reactions came from Elliot, Olivia, Casey and George. _At least I know who Kathy's told about this morning's match._ They each had guarded expressions on their faces.

That decided Sarah. That, and Dickie breaking the broomstick and the mopstick over his knee, to make them the right length to substitute for a sword. "Is this long enough?"

Sarah rolled her eyes, glancing at Mara who had accepted her shard of a broom with a wicked grin. "We'll make do."

"Sarah-"

"What? I've gotten better with a sword since Mara and I first duelled." Sarah interrupted Kathy's objections. "Besides which, we both know more than enough about duelling that we'll stop before we get carried away."

They both walked to the centre of the backyard and put down their 'swords'. Sarah began an abbreviated set of stretches as Mara did the same. "You up for this?" Mara asked, voice quiet enough that Sarah was the only one to hear it.

"Yes." Sarah felt an irrational pang of annoyance flare up. How dare anyone insinuate that she wasn't ready for a good match?

"Good." Mara replied, before lunging for the broom handle she'd dropped and swinging it at Sarah's midsection. The young knight threw herself into a backward somersault to avoid the blow, picking up her own mopstick on the way, and leapt to her feet in time to catch the next attack on her 'sword'.

Sarah didn't waste anytime as she went straight on the offensive, swinging the blade at Mara's legs, aiming for the back of her knees. The redhead blocked the shot without trouble and began circling Sarah. "Now _that's_ more like it." Mara observed. "What happened this morning?"

"I was still a little shaken up." Sarah admitted. "I didn't have my head in the fight. Don't worry though – I do now!" With that she lunged forward, the tip of her sword aiming for Mara's chest. The redhead blocked it with the tip of her own, snaking her sword around Sarah's, but the knight saw the move coming and sidestepped, taking the pressure off of her grip on the hilt. Sarah yanked her sword away, whacking at Mara's back. The Jedi barely caught the blade in time.

"You're right – you _have_ gotten better." Mara admitted, before striking back at Sarah.

The Tortallan caught the strike on her own sword, and they grappled for a moment, each trying to force the other to their knees, before Sarah felt a twinge in her shoulder followed by a searing pain. Sarah fell to her knees, dropping the broomstick as she clutched her shoulder, face going red as she tried not to cry out. "Damn…" She hissed.

"I thought you said you were 'up to it'." Mara knelt beside her. "Let me see."

"I thought it was good enough to go back to normal use." Sarah muttered, voice tight with pain.

"I guess that was _too_ normal." Mara commented as she pried Sarah's fingers away from her shoulder. "What did you do to it, anyway?"

The others had approached now. Kathy nodded to Mara and knelt beside Sarah. "I'm fine." Sarah insisted.

"Ahuh." Kathy's tone of voice made it clear she didn't believe her. "Now what was the original injury to your shoulder?"

"One of the Martians thought it would be funny to turn its tail into a spear and hang her from a wall." Cragen answered for Sarah. Kathy glanced up sharply at this. He reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet as Kathy steadied her.

"Yeah, that was a fun day." Sarah added with a wince. "I really did think it was healed enough to do this kind of stuff again."

"I guess you were wrong." Kathy replied.

"You didn't have any problems rescuing the kids." Casey frowned, and Sarah shrugged, before immediately regretting the action.

"I was mostly shooting a blaster then, and I used my other hand for that." Sarah winced and fought the urge to shrug again. "The only time I did anything strenuous with this shoulder was when I… kind of beat the snot out of a pirate trying to escape with Jaina. And even then, it was hardly the most exertion I've ever undertaken, if you know what I mean."

Mara snorted. "Understatement of the year."

"Way to ruin the party, Sarah." Munch said sarcastically as they made their way past the rest of the group and back into the house. Sarah gave the detective a pained grin, but didn't say anything.

When they got to the kitchen Sarah sank down into a chair, while Kathy went upstairs for the first aid kit. Everyone crowded in after them, until Sarah shot them a glare. "Nuh uh. All of you go and enjoy the barbeque. I'm fine!"

They all complied, except for Mara, Jaina, Jacen, Anakin, Cragen, Elliot and George. Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Am I misinterpreting the definition of 'all of you'?"

"Are you alright, Sarah?" Jaina asked, her voice small.

"Yeah, sweetie. I'm fine." Sarah tried for a reassuring smile, but the look Jaina shot her made her laugh. "It's that obvious, is it?"

"Yeah, yeah it is." The girl answered, and Sarah laughed.

Sarah crooked a finger, and the girl approached, allowing the knight to put a hand on both shoulders. "Casey's right. This injury didn't give me any trouble running through the pirate base looking for you kids. It's not _that_ bad. Now, you've got the advantage over Dickie and Elizabeth – you might be younger but they'll still be fascinated by everything about you, so why don't you three run off and make friends, alright?"

"But, Sarah-"

"Now, kiddo." Sarah jerked her head towards the door. "You know I don't like to repeat myself."

Jaina darted in for a quick hug before leading her brothers outside, and Sarah leant back in her chair, shooting a look at Mara. "You know, I could give you the same pep talk."

"I don't need friends here." Mara's arms were folded over her chest, and Sarah rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry to have offended you, you big, bad ex-smuggler lone ranger." Sarah shook her head.

Cragen and Elliot froze and gave Mara a weird look. "Ex-smuggler?" Cragen asked lightly, and Sarah winced.

Mara shrugged. "More like second in command to the biggest information broker in the galaxy, who just _happened_ to do some smuggling on the side."

"Oh, well, that makes all the difference." Elliot kept his voice pleasant, but gave Sarah a look that said they'd be talking later.

"Mara's nice now. Marriage really straightened her out." Sarah gave the detective an earnest look. "She hardly ever kills anyone now."

Mara's grin turned wicked. "Unless they annoy me."

An unexpected smile grew on Elliot's face. "You're having us on, aren't you? Haha, very funny you two."

"Yeah, except for the part where we're not." Sarah grinned at the man, who gave Mara another funny look, before shrugging.

"So long as it's 'ex-smuggler' and you're not going to be peddling counterfeit ipods from my garage, we're fine."

"Aw, how sweet is that, Mara!" Sarah teased, punching the redhead in the shoulder. "You might not need any friends here, but you've already made one! Just imagine the amount you'd have if you'd actually _try_ to be nice to people."

"Well I've got to leave some for _you_, don't I?" Mara returned. "Now be a _good_ little girl and stay still for Mrs Stabler while I go check on the kids."

Sarah shot the woman a dirty look as she walked back outside, before rolling her eyes. "If I'm gonna tease, I guess I should expect to get as good as I give."

"Captain Cragen, could you give us a minute?" George asked the older man, who looked between Sarah, Elliot and the psychiatrist.

"Am I missing something here, Doc?" The man asked, and Sarah jumped at the opportunity to answer for the other man.

"Nope. You're more than welcome to stay." Sarah's voice was a little too eager, and Cragen's suspicion grew.

Kathy chose that moment to return with the first aid kit. She looked around the room, before saying, "Could you give us a minute, Don?"

Sarah groaned. "What do you three want?"

"Just to talk." Elliot replied amicably.

"Yeah, well, talk amongst yourselves." Sarah muttered churlishly.

Cragen just glanced around the room at the rest of its occupants and nodded outside. "I'm gonna go make sure the others stay out of trouble."

Sarah tried standing to follow him, but Kathy gently pushed her back into her chair. "Either way, you still need your shoulder looked at."

"Well it only takes one of you to do that." Sarah grumbled.

They shared a look between themselves, and Elliot left. "You too, Shrinky McShrink." Sarah nodded in the direction of the door, staring George down. Unfortunately, he wasn't to be intimidated.

"Sarah, you need to talk about-"

"If you say anything about rape trauma syndrome, or 'what happened to me' or any of that _crap_-" Sarah began, voice threatening.

"Can you lift your shirt?" Kathy asked, interrupting her threat, and Sarah took off the offending garment with a wince and a hiss, revealing a singlet that gave the woman unrestricted access to her wound.

"You use aggression as a defence mechanism-"

"I'm not talking about it, George." Sarah shook her head. "Find someone else to psychoanalyse. A word of advice, stay away from Mara – she'll actually carry out any threats she makes."

"Sarah." His voice was firm. "If you don't resolve the issues you have about what happened to you, you'll keep having night terrors. Do you want to wake up like you did this morning _every morning_ for the rest of your life?"

"George." Her tone matched his. "I'll say this once more. I'm. Fine."

The man sighed, as though expecting the answer, and walked out of the room. He returned a moment later with a manila folder. "I had a feeling you'd be too stubborn to let anyone help, so I printed off some information for you to read." He tried to pass her the folder, but she just stared at him, an angry look on her face. Instead, he put it on the table and followed the rest of the guests outside.

Sarah waited a few moments in silence as Kathy inspected her wound. Suddenly, the nurse frowned. "You say you got this during the invasion?"

"Yeah." Sarah winced when the nurse prodded a delicate area. "Why?"

"It's much further along then I'd thought it would be after a week. And the Martian's… tail, it went all the way through?" Kathy continued her questioning.

"Yeah. Although, to be fair, Mithros stopped time in this dimension while we were off rescuing the kids, so it's been more like _two _weeks. And while I was in their dimension they used their medicines to pack to wound – they're a lot more advanced than any Earth culture I've come across so far."

"Interesting." Kathy murmured. "Well, there's no fresh trauma to the wound, I think it was just a warning pain, telling you that if you went much further-"

"There'd be hell to pay." Sarah finished with a grimace. "Thanks, Kathy. I'll try to ease up on the shoulder."

The woman just nodded and started redressing the wound. When it was done, she stood. "Wait here. I'll go and get a button up shirt – I don't think you'll be able to manage a pull over tonight."

Sarah just nodded, and when she was alone in the room, she glanced at the manila folder on the table, before flicking a finger at it. A small ball of fire raced to the folder and expanded, engulfing it in flames. Sarah kept careful control of her Gift, so as to not scorch the table.

When Kathy came in with a blue button up shirt, there was nothing but a pile of ashes left on the table. The nurse raised an eyebrow, and Sarah accepted the shirt without a word and pulled it on carefully, before rejoining the group outside.

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Tony glanced over his shoulder surreptitiously, before sighing in relief, and aiming carefully. The ball of scrunched up paper missed the trash can by a good three feet. "Damn!" He hissed, before sliding a glance at the pile of paper on his desk. Quick as lightning, he snatched another piece and scrunched it up, before taking aim again. The shrill ringing of his cell phone made him jump a foot in the air, and he quickly dropped the ball of paper, flipping open the phone and answering gruffly, "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo!"

"DiNozzo, stop playing baseball and bring up Georgia Simpson's address." Gibbs barked from the other end.

"Uh… I think you mean _basketball_, boss-" He corrected.

"DiNozzo!"

"Sorry boss." Tony could almost feel the man's hand crashing on the back of his head as a warning slap. He quickly turned to his computer and typed in the name, frowning as he did. "Who's Georgia Simpson?"

"Our missing waitress. Also our newest victim. Found her in an alley near Wash U." Gibbs replied. "What's her address?"

"Sending it to your GPS now boss." DiNozzo pressed a few buttons, frowning. "Was she killed by Lavigne as well, boss?"

"It looks that way, DiNozzo. Ziva and McGee are on their way out as well. You wait there, in case of any new developments." Gibbs hung up without saying goodbye, and Tony leant back in his chair, throwing the ball of paper up and down in the air. _That explains where Ziva and the Probie are. _

After a few more minutes of fooling around, DiNozzo stood, picking up his wallet and heading for the vending machine. He was almost there when his phone rang again. Sighing, he flipped it open. "DiNozzo."

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo? It's Marci." The voice was female, high pitched and wavering.

"Marci who?" DiNozzo frowned. He hadn't brought anyone home named Marci, had he?

"Sorry, Marci Dickens. The bartender at Subzero? You told me to call if Lavigne showed up…" The woman explained hurriedly. "He's here, Anthony. The murderer. I'm scared-"

"Has he done anything yet?" DiNozzo asked, hurriedly searching for his car keys.

"No, not yet… can you come?"

Tony bit his lip, glancing at the empty desks of Ziva, McGee and Gibbs. "I'm on my way." He hung up and shrugged on his coat on the way to the elevator.

TBC…

Gasp! DiNozzo, off to face our villain… WITHOUT backup? What will he do???

Probably get himself killed, but not in this story!

Hope you enjoyed, next one won't be too far away, read and review!


	11. Chapter 11

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

I'm putting this warning at the start of this chapter because I've included some stuff in this chapter that only appears in Law and Order SVU in the newest series (which no one in Australia has legally seen yet… not that that's an admission of guilt or anything!)

So anyway, spoilers for episode 3, series 10: 'Swing'.

It wasn't ORIGINALLY in this chapter, but I just saw them and I thought… I've really got to add this new character into this chapter. No reason, I just wanted to. Haha.

Also, I am very sorry for the delay. My… well, I've always hated saying my 'muse' but, my muse took a hike. I think he/she may be taking a break over Christmas (I know, I'm sorry, but Christmas is a depressing time when you work in retail. Anyone who works in retail will know. There are groups on facebook called 'I have worked in retail, therefore I have lost all faith in humanity'.) And my muse suffers when I'm in a bad mood.

But I shall endeavour to work past my Christmas uncheer (don't get me wrong, I LOVE the day :D) and update more often.

Read, review!

Chapter 11:

Sarah, the Solo kids, Dickie and Elizabeth were all lying on the ground, staring up at the sky.

"I wonder what's up there." Dickie mused quietly. The rest of the adults were sitting on the porch, talking to Mara about the differences between dimensions.

"Well, we know there's at least two alien species that want to invade us out there." Sarah let slip before wincing. "That is to say… that there are probably a heap of nice aliens just waiting to make friends with us, we've just got to find them first."

"But the arseholes-"

"Language, Dickie. Anakin's only seven years old, and I'm sure your father would be upset to hear you talk like that." Sarah muttered out of instinct.

"But the 'mean' aliens are the ones that'll keep coming for us." Dickie amended. "I mean, a nice alien isn't going to come all this way just to visit. The only reason they'd travel for years and years would be to get something in return."

"Depends on their level of technology." Sarah shrugged. "I mean, sure, here we can travel all the way to the _moon_, but in these guys' dimension, they can travel all the way across the galaxy in a matter of weeks. If the nice aliens had that kind of technology, and they knew we were here, chances are they'd come just for curiosity's sake."

"What are you kids talking about?" Elliot called from the porch. His conversation seemed to have experienced a lull.

"Aliens." Dickie called back.

"Sarah, I don't think-" Elliot's voice was worried, now it was heading towards them.

Sarah craned her neck back to look at the detective. "Not the invasion. I was just about to tell them about Wookies and the Mon Calamarian people. I haven't even _mentioned_ the White Martians." _That was your son._

Before he could respond he was interrupted by the appearance of a stout, white haired woman arriving in a flourish. Which was just as well, because his face told of his complete disbelief. "Hello, everyone! Don't mind me, I'm just here to see my son. I saw you all on the news, and-"

"_Mom?_" Elliot's face turned white, and a quick look at Kathy told Sarah the feeling was shared, at least among the adults in the Stabler family.

"Well I had to come around and see whether you were alright, didn't I?" The woman's voice rose and fell microscopically with every word she said. "I mean, sure, _Kathy _was kind enough to give me a call and let me know that my hero son was still alive, but I just had to see it for myself! And all of your friends are here as well!" There was something on her face that made Sarah realise that perhaps not all was right in Grandma Stabler's head. The older woman stared at her son expectantly. "Well? Aren't you going to introduce your own mother?"

The look on Elliot's face puzzled Sarah. _He's… he's _ashamed _of her. He doesn't want the others knowing about her. And I'd bet my fief the others realise it too. I mean, it's obvious she's… flamboyant, but for a son to be ashamed of his own mother…_ The thought brought a scowl to Sarah's face. _It's no different to a mother being ashamed of her own daughter. _Almost as soon as that thought had surfaced, Sarah sighed. _Elliot's more reasonable than _her_. I'm sure he has a perfectly good reason to want to avoid this occurrence. And I'm supposed to be over what _she _did by now._

She pushed herself to a standing position, approaching the woman with a genial smile on her face. "Hi, Mrs Stabler. I'm Sarah Gibson, a friend of your son's. It's a pleasure to meet you." Trying a technique she'd had used on her before, she lowered her voice to nearly a hush, trying to draw the conversation to a near whisper, hoping the woman wouldn't put a further strain on the man Sarah had come to know as volatile and unpredictable when provoked.

Unfortunately, the attempt didn't work, as the woman's voice remained at a boisterous level. "Oh, please, call me Bernie. I haven't been Mrs Stabler in the _longest_ time. And _you're_ the 'dimension hopper'-"

Kathy was running interference with the law enforcers, trying to strike up a conversation, but at the woman's loud response to Sarah's statement, the attempt fell flat.

"That I am." Sarah grinned at the woman, who's eyes were warm with happiness. "Why don't you come over here-" At this she gestured with a hand towards the twins, and _away_ from everyone Elliot worked with. "And say hello to your grandkids."

The woman gave Sarah another one of her funny smiles and began walking towards the kids, grabbing Sarah's arm and looping it through her own, eliciting a wince from the knight. "You know, Kathy never told me she and Elliot knew you well enough to invite you to a barbeque, and I don't even get an offer! That's sons for you, though. I suppose this must be more of an 'I survived the invasion' barbeque, but still!" She managed to sound both indignant and yet, she didn't seem to care that much.

"Really, Bernie, I'm here as a matter of necessity. I doubt I would have gotten an invitation if I hadn't already been staying here." Sarah sent the woman another of her attempts at a disarming smile, even as she spoke in a low voice, hoping repetition of the action would reinforce it with the woman. It didn't work.

"Speak up dear! An old bird like me can't hear you when you whisper!" This was said in all but yelled, and Sarah let out a small sigh. So much for _that_ idea.

"Grandma!" Elizabeth stepped forward and gave the woman a tight hug, followed by Dickie, who gave a tentative one. _So like a boy_. Sarah took the opportunity to gently withdraw her arm step back, even as Elizabeth drew the woman further away from the house and the overly curious detectives. "How have you been?"

Sarah let the two young teens drag the woman away as she gestured silently to the Solo children. They stood and made their way over to Mara, who sat them down on the porch, out of the way. Olivia had made her way over to Elliot and was conversing quietly, while Kathy explained the situation to the others.

Not knowing quite what to do when she found herself alone on the grass, Sarah alternated between staring at the newest arrival and sharing glances with Mara. Elliot waving caught her attention, and she glanced up, eyebrows raised. He waved her over, looking incredibly put out. Olivia was looking at him as though she'd never met him before. Sarah trotted over to the Detective. "Look, Sarah, thanks for trying. Mom's-"

She held up a hand, shaking her head. "Don't worry, Elliot. I didn't expect you to introduce me to your wife, let alone the rest of the family. You don't need to explain anything to me. I understand."

He gave her a nod and clapped a hand on her shoulder, before making his way over to his twins, where they were preoccupying the elderly woman with an animated discussion of something. Olivia turned to Sarah, a disbelieving look on her face. "You understand? You understand why he kept his mother a secret from me – I've been his partner for _ten _years."

Sarah quirked an eyebrow at Olivia. "What do you know about my mother?"

"That she was an overly religious _bitch_ that threw you out on your arse after-"

"What's her name? What does she do for a living?" Sarah crossed her arms against her chest. "What do you know _about_ her, that I didn't accidentally let slip to Casey when I was addled from a near complete magical draining?"

Olivia shook her head stubbornly. "That's different. What your mother did to you-"

"What do you know about Elliot's mother?" Sarah pressed patiently.

"Nothing! That's the problem-"

"So how do you know _she_ didn't do something to _him_?" Sarah finally made her point.

Olivia just gaped, but before she could respond, Bernie's voice had risen loud enough for all to hear. "You want me to leave? What, I can't visit my son? My _grandchildren_?"

"Mom, it's not that…" The man tried, sounded helpless.

"Are you ashamed of me?" She demanded. "You haven't even introduced me to your friends!" Suddenly, her voice didn't have that carefree tone. It sounded like a frail, lonely old woman.

One look at Elliot's face told anyone who wasn't blind how much the situation was hurting him, but the woman didn't give him a chance to make whatever explanation was on the tip of his tongue. She twirled and stormed off without another word. "Mom!" The man called, and began after her, but Kathy intercepted him.

"Stay. I'll go after her." The detective seemed ready to argue, but he nodded instead, and his wife disappeared around the side of the house. Elliot stared after her for a moment, before heading inside, leaving everyone sitting in an awkward silence.

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Gibbs ducked back under the crime scene tape, large Starbucks coffee in his hand. "We sure this is Lavigne's work, Duck?" He asked the older man, although his gut revealed the answer.

"Unfortunately, Jethro. It's the only possible explanation – there's no way this poor girl burnt to death. There's no sign of accelerant, no traces of blood and bodily fluid, nothing. Just a pile of bones." He shook his head. "It reminds me of a time back at the Scotland Yard. A school archaeology trip dug up the bones of a man who must have been dead at _least_ fifty years. Naturally, though, the school teacher was convinced the poor lad had been murdered only _days _before, and I had to explain to her…"

Gibbs walked away, grim satisfaction on his face. He'd been right to get DiNozzo to find the missing waitress' home address. As Ziva and McGee approached in the evidence truck, Gibbs pulled out his phone again. He'd get DiNozzo to inform the girl's parents in person.

When he called the phone rang out. Gibbs' gut churned, and he flipped his phone shut. "McGee!" The field agent's head jerked up, eyes wide. Gibbs never tired of seeing that 'deer in the headlights' look on the young man's face. "Keep trying DiNozzo-"

A loud cluttering from behind him cut him off, and he turned to glare at Ducky's assistant, Jimmy Palmer. The man had tried gathering more of the girl's bones than he could manage, and dropped what looked to be the tibia. "If you're _done_ destroying the evidence, Mr Palmer?" Ducky scolded.

The man paled under the weight of Gibbs' glare, and stuttered and answer, and Gibbs turned back to McGee. "Keep trying DiNozzo. When you get him on the phone, tell him I'm on my way there to _strangle him_ for forgetting rule three. And follow me back."

"Gibbs, we just _got_ here-" Ziva stopped herself as he turned the full force of his glare on her. She just got back in the driver's seat.

As he sat back in his car, he heard Palmer ask McGee, "What's rule three?"

"Never be unreachable." The other man answered, his phone already out and ringing as he sat in the passenger seat. It was a testament to his distraction – he didn't pause in getting in the same vehicle that Ziva was driving.

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DiNozzo walked into the dive bar, a serious look to his face as he approached the bartender, who was wringing her hands nervously. He'd realised halfway to the bar that he'd left his cell phone on his desk, but it was too late to go back now. "Marci, are you alright?"

She nodded bravely, eyes darting to a man lounging in a booth, half covered by shadow. "He's over there, Anthony." She raised a hand and pointed, and the man stood up.

DiNozzo's eyes widened. "Don't do that!" He hissed to the woman, and groaned when the man didn't sit back down. "Ah… to hell with it!" He pulled out his badge and gun. "NCIS! Everybody out, now. This bar is closed."

The man just stared at DiNozzo, a shocked look on his face, as patrons of the bar walked up the stairs to the ground level. Lavigne seemed to snap out of his near trance, and he threw a hand out, towards the door. DiNozzo's finger tightened on the trigger, but instead of frying any of the escaping people, the door slammed shut… in the face of the final six escapees, including the bartender.

"You had to interfere, didn't you?" The man's voice cracked, and his hand whipped through the air to point at DiNozzo.

"Hey, Danny, buddy, I just want to talk-" DiNozzo tried.

"Shut up!" The man screamed. "Just shut up!"

A cold sweat dripped down DiNozzo's back. He tightened his grip on the gun, wishing fervently he had at _least_ called Gibbs to tell him where he was. He'd broken several of Gibbs' rules, and just perhaps, he'd pay the ultimate price for it.

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Kathy reappeared after ten minutes, just after they heard a car engine start and travel away from the house. Sarah had gone back to lying on the lawn, one hand pillowing her head as she stared up at the sky, barely a minute after the incident. The Solos had joined her, and eventually the Stabler twins had retaken their positions on the ground beside the group.

Kathy took one look around, noticing the absence of her husband, and disappeared inside to find him. An awkward silence still filled the backyard, until Sarah suddenly yawned, loudly. "Sorry!" She called. It was only partially staged – she _was_ tired from her fun that morning.

It seemed to break the silence, as they started muttering to themselves. It could have been the yawn, or Elliot sudden appearance at the back door, with his wife in tow. The man immediately made his way down to where Sarah and the kids were lying on the ground.

"It's a school day tomorrow, you kids should get to bed."

"Aww, but _Dad_…" Sarah muttered sarcastically.

Dickie grinned. "What she said."

"Off to bed." He ordered. When Dickie and Elizabeth grudgingly complied, he fixed Jaina, Jacen and Anakin with a look. "You three too, it's getting late."

"They don't have school tomorrow." Sarah reminded the detective.

"Do you want to deal with three kids under ten that haven't had a good night's sleep in the morning? Kathy's got work tomorrow – it'll just be you and Mara looking after them." Elliot's voice was falsely smug. He was putting on an act. Sarah could appreciate the need, so she played along.

"Well, Mr-I-Have-Five-Kids-And-Think-I-Know-Everything, these three are good kids." Sarah nodded at them. "They'll behave themselves no matter how much sleep they get."

"Actually, I'm getting kind of tired, Sarah." Jaina admitted. The boys nodded, and Sarah sighed.

"Fine, but this just proves my point!" She wagged a finger at Elliot. "They're good enough kids that they can make sure they get enough rest. None of this stubborn 'but I'm not tired' rubbish from the three Solo kids." They pushed to their feet and started trudging up the house.

"Ahuh. You thinking about turning in-"

"I am _way_ too old to have a bedtime, Elliot." Sarah gave him an unamused look, but from her vantage point of still lying on the ground, it may not have been communicated correctly, because he just gave a small laugh.

"Alright, alright. You wanna come sit up on the porch? I think the others are all choosing _your_ philosophy – pretend like nothing happened."

"Nah, I'm comfy here." Sarah shook her head.

"Do you mind if I join you?" He asked, and before she could comment he lay down beside her, staring up there.

"Sure, El, go ahead." She muttered, rolling her eyes. He'd tell _her_ to face her problems.

They lay there in silence as the conversation back up on the porch picked up. Sarah heard Elliot draw a breath to speak, and sighed herself. _Here it comes. He'll ignore _his _problems, but mine are somehow his business._ "I'm not going to pry like Kathy does. I owe you as much, seeing how you tried to help and didn't even want to know the circumstances. I know from experience that prying just doesn't work with you anyway, and Kathy told me what you did with the information George gave you." This caused Sarah to bite her lip to cover up a laugh. "Just… we're all here for you, alright? You can talk to any of us, we'll listen. Or if you just need a-"

"Thanks, Elliot." Sarah interrupted, rolling onto her side to give him her full attention. "I appreciate the offer, really, I do. And you should realise the same applies to you. But-"

"You're fine. I know. Just in case, though, you know we're here for you." She nodded, and he patted her arm before pushing himself to his feet again. "You should come up to the porch, show everyone you're not being Miss Antisocial, maybe George'll leave you alone."

"Right. If I go _closer_ to the nosy psychiatrist he'll leave me alone, but if I stay here, far away from him, he won't. I can see your logic." Sarah spoke dryly. "Besides, I think he's busy psychoanalysing _you_ for the time being."

Elliot shrugged. "Suit yourself. But you just _know_ Kathy will pry later."

She waved him off with a hand, and he sighed once more, before trotting back up to the porch.

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"So you used to be a smuggler?" Kathleen elaborated. "And you worked for an information broker, and now you're married to the brother of the New Republic's _President_."

Everyone had somehow decided that Elliot's mother was no business of theirs, but _somehow_ they had a right to pry into Mara's. For her part, Mara was getting agitated. It wasn't exactly the setting she'd had in mind when she reluctantly agreed to coming with Sarah to help her deal with a murderer. She'd expected that by this stage, she'd actually be hunting down the murderer. How silly of her. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

"How did _that_ happen?" Kathleen just couldn't seem to get her head around it, and the others in the group seemed to want an explanation too, so Mara sighed.

"That's nothing. The _real_ story is who _President _Leia Organa Solo married. Han Solo is yet another ex-smuggler, he even used to have a price on his head from the biggest spice lord in the galaxy." Mara tried. "Besides which, the New Republic was borne of the Rebel Alliance, which was pretty much made up of smugglers and overly optimistic freedom fighters _anyway_-"

"Which one was Leia?" Casey asked, a smile on her face. She obviously already knew the answer – there was no way a woman like Leia had ever been involved in smuggling.

"A freedom fighter. Darth Vader made her watch her home planet be destroyed – she'd already been running missions for the Rebels before then, but that pretty much cinched her allegiances." Mara was in an intolerant mood, so she barely blinked when the gathered adults gasped.

"An entire planet…" Kathy whispered, her grip on Elliot's hand tightening. "How?"

"The Empire developed a weapon under the guise of an asteroid drilling platform, but with a codename 'Death Star' who did they really think they were going to fool?" Mara sighed, bittersweet memories of a time when life was simpler and her only job was to serve the Emperor passed through her mind. "Anyway, they were looking for the Rebels' base at the time, and they tried using the destruction of her planet as leverage. Leia… she knew the entire galaxy was at stake if she gave them the location of the real base, so she gave them the name of one of their old ones. Vader didn't even check it out – he just decided that Dantooine was too remote a planet to make a good demonstration of the power of the Death Star. So he blew up Alderaan anyway, and made her watch."

"That's horrible…" Maureen looked physically sick at the idea.

"Then they tried blaming it on the Rebels, but they would have had a better chance of people believing that if Alderaan hadn't been sympathetic to the Rebellion's cause in the first place. They _should_ have blown up Corellia – slightly sympathetic to the Empire, but not involved in the Rebellion _at all_. Sure, they produced the Imps' Corellian Freighters, but the Kuat Drive Yards could have continued manufacturing them even _with_ the planet missing." Mara shrugged. "Believe it or not, the Death Star wasn't their worst invention."

"What could be worse than something that blows up _planets_?" Munch asked, sceptical.

Mara met his gaze with her own, waiting for him to look away before answering. "Something that blows up _stars._" Her eyes grew distant as she remembered feeling the people of Carida die slowly, compared to Alderaan, at least. They'd roasted.

"It must have been horrible, hearing about-"

Mara interrupted Olivia, her face blank of emotion. "Force sensitives feel ripples in the Force. The bigger the ripple, the bigger the feeling. How big a ripple do you think the instantaneous deaths of billions of people caused?"

They sat in silence, musing over Mara's words. The Jedi was more than happy with the silence, it meant they weren't asking awkward questions. Casey, however, was the first to recover. "How long ago was this?"

"Carida was seven years ago. Alderaan was about twenty years ago." Mara answered.

"And the kids-"

"They felt Carida too." Mara confirmed, glancing up at the second floor of the house, where they were sleeping. "We all did."

"Do you…" Kathleen seemed to reconsider asking her question, but she plowed on. "Do you remember what you were doing… I mean, I remember what I was doing during 9/11…"

Mara didn't even blink while she lied about her location during the destruction of Alderaan. "During Alderaan, I was in a bar on Sullust. When Carida blew I was in hyperspace, on my way to meet back up with Karrde."

"You're lyin'." Fin spoke for the first time, studying Mara closely. "At least about the first bit."

Mara just quirked one eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?" Inwardly, she grimaced.

"You've got a tell. You squinted a little when you lied about bein' in a bar." He insisted, folding his arms against his chest.

"If I tell you where I really was, what I was really doing, you either wouldn't believe me, or you'd kick me out of the house." Mara replied, wondering how long she'd had a tell for. _The farmboy's innocence must be wearing off on me._

"Does Sarah know?" Fin asked, glancing at the younger woman on the grass, who still hadn't moved from her position on the grass.

"No. Leia does. Luke does. They know all about that part of my life." Mara didn't know why she was being open about it, but she shrugged it off, refusing to elaborate anymore about it.

"So you were, what, in the middle of a 'spice run'?" Fin pushed.

A spike of fear from Sarah alerted Mara to a problem on the grass, so the redhead stood. She couldn't resist one parting shot, so as she began to walk to her younger friend's side, she tossed over her shoulder, "No, I was kneeling at the Emperor's feet, waiting for his orders."

The stunned silence that followed her down the grass was strangely satisfying, but she put it out of her head as she knelt but Sarah's side and gently shook the younger woman. Sarah's face was screwed up, and she let out a small whimper of fear, eyelids fluttering. "Sarah, wake up." Mara spoke softly, but shook her a little harder, and the knight woke gasping.

"Shit." Was the first word out of Sarah's mouth. She forced herself into a sitting position, before hunching over, hanging her head. After a few deep breaths, she met Mara's eyes. "Thanks for waking me."

"I figured waking up screaming in your friend's backyard isn't the way to convince everyone you're fine." Mara shrugged.

"No, really. Thanks for waking me before it got too bad." Sarah let out a shaky breath and stood, stretching.

"You should go to bed." Mara observed. "And I mean _bed._ If I find you on the floor I'll put you on the bed and stuncuff you to the headboard."

"Yes ma'am!" Sarah saluted smartly.

"I'll probably join you and the kids soon." Mara observed with a grimace. "Things with your friends might be a little… tense, if I stick around."

"Why? What did you do, regale them with stories of your smuggling days?" Sarah grinned at her and wiped the sweat from her upperlip.

"Not exactly." Mara said shortly.

Sarah sighed and walked up the lawn to the porch, to find everyone staring at Mara, with shocked looks on their faces. The knight smirked at Mara. "Drop a bombshell, did we?"

Mara gave a miniscule shrug, and Olivia recovered enough to cough into her hand. "Gee, Sarah, you really _do_ make the most interesting friends."

Sarah frowned. "Huh?"

"What, Mara didn't tell you she used to be a minion of evil?" Munch asked, sarcastic.

"Minion?" Sarah grinned at the older man. "Since when do you use the word 'minion'?"

"This isn't a laughing matter, Sarah." Cragen, this time.

_Well, whatever Mara told them must've been serious for him to be weighing in like this._ Sarah thought to herself. "Policing my friends, are we Don?"

"I told them I used to work for the Emperor." Mara said evenly. "I was his Hand, his assassin. He trained me personally in the ways of the Force, and oversaw my physical training, and sent me on missions to kill threats to the Empire. Until Vader killed him."

Sarah's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Really? Well, that was unexpected."

"That's all you have to say." Olivia's voice was flat, unemotional. "'That was unexpected.' She worked for the people that blew up a planet, and a star!"

"The Empire didn't blow up Carida's sun." Mara corrected coolly. "That was Kyp Durron."

"Kyp Durron, the man that helped rescue the kids, Kyp Durron?" Casey's eyes were wide.

"Yes."

Sarah was stunned. "So the over confident Jedi that Luke trusted enough to bring on a rescue mission against a Dark Jedi used a superweapon to blow up a solar system? Well that's certainly interesting."

Mara just shrugged once more. "He was under the influence of Exar Kun, a Sith Lord that got his soul trapped in the Massassi temples on Yavin Four. He wasn't in his right mind."

"We've heard that excuse a million times." Fin interrupted. "Doesn't change the fact that this 'Kyp Durron' murdered a planet, or that you-"

"You've heard the excuse that the perp was under the influence of a long dead Sith Lord trapped in a bunch of temples?" Sarah interrupted dryly, rolling her eyes, before turning to Mara. "I'm to assume Kyp has been punished for his crimes and Luke's got him back on the winning team?"

Mara sent Sarah a sceptical look. "The winning team?"

"You know, the good guys." Sarah elaborated, and Mara nodded. "And do Luke, Leia and Han know about you?" Sarah asked pressing.

"Considering the Emperor's final command, sent to me through the Force when Vader killed him was to kill Luke Skywalker, yeah, they figured it out." Mara replied sarcastically.

"Ooh, premarital fighting?" Sarah gasped in mock horror, before shaking her head. "Look, I trust them, and they trust you." At this, the knight shrugged. "That's all I need to know – although now I know why you actually come _close_ to beating me with a sword." Now she grinned.

"Oh ha ha." Mara pulled a face at Sarah, who just shrugged.

"Leave Mara alone, guys." She advised. "Take it from someone who reread 'the Fall of the Empire' seven times, it was a pretty rough time in that galaxy at that point." The distrust on their faces didn't change, and Sarah sighed. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course we trust-" Elliot began, but Sarah interrupted him.

"Then trust me when I tell you, you can trust Mara." Sarah clapped a hand on the woman's shoulder, giving her a nod. "I'd put my life in her hands – Leia put her children's lives in her hands. What's more – I'd put _your_ lives in her hands."

Kathy stood suddenly. "I'm making coffees. Anyone?"

Sarah sank down into Mara's chair with a groan, rolling her shoulder. "Put me down for one."

"I thought you didn't 'do' coffee." Elliot raised an eyebrow, and Sarah just shrugged.

"Is there a reason you don't want to go to sleep, Sarah?" George added.

Sarah just gave him a level gaze. "I had a nice little snooze on the lawn."

"Until Mara woke you. Did she sense something through the Force?"

"Am I a mind reader?" She returned sweetly.

TBC…


	12. Chapter 12

A/n. This is an extra long chapter, because while I've had most of the NCIS section written for weeks now, I had real trouble writing the star wars parts. So you had to wait, so I gave you more! Enjoy!

Read, review, you know the drill!

Chapter 12:

The elevator doors were closing when McGee and Ziva got out of the truck. They ran for the closing door, and only the Israeli attaché sticking her arm between the doors stopped them from missing it. Quickly, they entered the elevator, flinching slightly under the intensity of Gibbs' gaze. Ziva leaned over and pressed the button to close the doors, and the elevator began its ascent.

When they entered the floor of cubicles and rushed to their team's section, Ziva's heart sank. DiNozzo wasn't there.

"McGee!" Gibbs barked. "I want to know what the last two phone calls to DiNozzo's cell were. Ziva, check his call history on his desk phone."

Quickly, the woman complied as the man Tony affectionately dubbed 'Probie' jumped on his computer and began typing rapidly. When Ziva had the information Gibbs had requested, she frowned. "Last call was from _you_, which he didn't answer. Before that, he had a call from a woman – Katie. It seems he is more serious about his relationship with this woman than he let on, he's even programmed her number into the phone's-"

"When was her call?" Gibbs interrupted impatiently.

"Two and a half hours ago." Ziva frowned. That wasn't the call they were after.

"I think I have something, boss." McGee began. "I have a call from you about thirty minutes ago, and almost straight after that another number called. Ah… Four, one, seven, six, six, nine-"

"Three. That's the number the bartender gave us to call if we needed anything else. Their direct line. Lavigne's there, and DiNozzo's gone to find him alone." Gibbs went to the locked top drawer of his desk and pulled out another clip of bullets for his Sig Sauer. If Gibson's performance against the pirates was any indication, he might need the extra rounds. "Ziva, call Gibson's contact, Elliot Stabler-"

"Boss, what about Director Shepard?" McGee interrupted, and then immediately winced as the full force of Gibbs' anger was directed at him.

"No one gets to kill DiNozzo except me, you got that?" Gibbs thundered. "I'll deal with the Director when it comes to that."

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Han's old contact had told them the pirates had set up base in an asteroid belt near Kessel, the better to hijack freighters carrying freshly mined spice from the comfort of their own home. Now Han and Leia were arguing in the entertainment area.

"Come on, Leia, you _know_ I used to do this for a living. I made this run in less than twelve parsecs! It'll shave twelve hours off the trip. Why are you so worried?" The former smuggler asked, voice plaintive.

"_Because_, nerf herder, the last time I trusted you to pull a stunt in this ship, the starboard stabiliser fell off!" She pointed out.

"But we've got a _new_ starboard stabiliser." He pointed out. "We even replaced the portside stabiliser as well, just to be certain-"

"That's not the point, Han." Leia replied tiredly. "This ship is always falling apart. I'd rather it _didn't_ fall apart when we're in the middle of space, surrounded by black holes."

"Luke, what do _you_ think?" Han asked of the Jedi, and he held up his hands.

"Oh no, you aren't dragging me into this." Luke grinned. "I know better than to get in the middle of an argument between you and Leia."

"What's the Force telling you?" Leia snapped at her brother. "I keep trying for a feeling, a hunch, but I get nothing."

The joking expression on his face melted to reveal the serious demeanour of a Jedi Master. "The Dark Side is clouding my judgement. But I think Han's right, time is of the essence. The sooner we deal with this threat, the better."

The exsmuggler grinned and loped back into the cockpit, where Chewie was waiting. "We're going through."

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"General Antilles."

Iella's face appeared on the vidscreen, and Wedge almost grinned. Almost. But he stopped himself – he was on the bridge of the _Mon Remonda_, his flagship, and it wouldn't be appropriate to show a personal relationship with the member of New Republic Intelligence that was reporting to him. "Agent Wessiri."

"I need to report to you on a secure channel, sir." There was a sparkle in her eyes that almost forced the grin onto Wedge's face.

"I'll re-establish the link in my ready room. _Mon Remonda_ out." He stood and nodded to his second-in-command. "You've got the bridge."

When he was seated behind his desk in his ready room, he noticed a call already flashing on the vidscreen. Smiling, he pressed the button. "Thanks for that, Iella. How have you been?"

The woman brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face, returning the smile with a strained one of her own. "Busy. We received word of a new organisation months ago, but they've been secretive. Very secretive. We sent two agents, but we haven't heard from one in six weeks. Either he's defected, or…"

"Or compromised." Wedge summarised quietly. "And the other?"

"That's what I've got to report to you. He's been working low end assignments from them for approximately eleven weeks. Two days ago he got a promotion of sorts. They told him the location of their new base." The tired look in her eyes turned vindictive. "I've encrypted the coordinates and sent them to you, along with all available intel on the group's operations."

"You should get some rest." Wedge observed. "We'll take it from here."

She shook her head. "I've got to find out what's happened to our first agent. He was- he's a good man, Wedge. I don't think he's defected. If I find out one of those Gamorrean born scumbags did him in, I'll make sure he chews blaster bolts."

"I would say don't get too involved with your subordinates wellbeing…" Wedge began.

"But that would make you a hypocrite." She smiled sadly at him. "I'll see you back at home when this is all over."

"I love you."

"You too, flyboy." With that, she signed off, and Wedge sighed. He had work to do.

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The ship shuddered, before dropping out of hyperspace once again. "Sithspawn!" Han yelled, angry. "What, have they seeded all known routes through the Maw with mines?!"

The _Falcon_ had been sent along four different routes, and each time they travelled no more than five minutes before the ship dropped out of hyperspace as the result of a proximity based space mine. Someone who knew the mine's location could skim around them without detonation, but for anyone that didn't, it would be near impossible. Han had tried the same route twice, hoping they hadn't seeded the routes with more than one mine – no such luck.

"We can still go around." Leia reminded him, trying to hide the smug look on her face. She had _told_ him to go around to begin with. It was a miracle they hadn't already been blown to pieces by the mines, anyway.

"No, we can't." He countered. "The long way is still a stretch of space bordered by asteroids and other black hole clusters. What's the bet they've seeded _that_ route with mines too?"

"They couldn't. Someone would have reported it by now-"

"The only ships going too and from Kessel are the freighters carrying spice. What's the bet the pirates have told them the correct routes through? Or the mines might only be new – the Republic hasn't been after them until recently, this could just be a new precaution." Han argued. A sly look appeared on his face. "No. The only safe way in is if we make our own."

"_What_?"

"Me'n Chewie used to do it all the time. Trust me." Flashing her his lopsided grin, he slapped the comm. controls with the palm of his hand. "Chewie, get up here. We're gonna navigate the Maw."

A wary growl answered his statement. "C'mon, it'll be just like old times."

Leia sighed, turning to the portable hypercom unit they'd brought with them, to stay in contact with the New Republic task force. She'd better tell Wedge the routes into the Maw were seeded, just in case his leads led him there as well.

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"We're receiving word from the _Millennium Falcon_, sir." The Comm Officer glanced up from his post, addressing Wedge. "Known routes into the Maw are seeded with hyperspace proximity charges. They'll transmit a safe route when they have one."

Wedge frowned, asking aloud, "What are they doing near Kessel?" Iella's intel had led them to a small planet where the pirate group, 'Bane's Revival', apparently a tribute to the Dark Lord of the Sith that was rumoured to have trained Palpatine, was extorting protection money from the planet's government. The planet was thirty six hours from Kessel.

Wedge shook his head. He wasn't going to worry about the Solos now. They could take care of themselves, probably better than most of the people under his command. He had to worry about his pilots. He was about to send two pilots from Rogue Squadron, and two from the Wraiths, down to the pirate's main haunt when they were planet side. They were going to be disguised, but that didn't mean the operation would be a success – the Rogues and the Wraiths would have to learn to get along first.

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"So Horn, you really met that psycho Sarah Gibson?" Face asked conversationally as he applied yet another fake scar to his face, and tugged at the red wig he had glued to his bald head.

Corran Horn, for his part, just raised an eyebrow, a hard thing to do while putting in contact lenses to change his green eyes to hazel. "Psycho?"

"You know, that woman who thinks she travels between dimension, and does big light shows to try to impress the politicians." Face explained, voice light, as though he were talking about the latest holodrama.

"Last I checked she impressed Chief of State Organa Solo and her family before even revealing her magic." Wes reminded Face with a warning to his voice. He and Tyria Sarkin had already finished their disguises – Tyria's hair was bright purple, and her skin was a deep brown. She'd painted her hands to fake tattoos, and her usual baggy pants and comfortable shirt were replaced with skintight nerf leather pants and a midriff revealing jacket to match.

"That was just because she stopped the blaster bolt intended for the Chief of State." Face argued.

Wes had donned a baldcap adorned with Devaronian ears, and every inch of skin was a deep red. There were contacts in his eyes, making them completely black. "She impressed General Antilles." He pointed out. "But that might have something to do with her skills that surpass even the mighty Wraith Squadron."

"Oh? And what skills would those be?" Face crossed his arms against his chest, waiting for an answer.

"Her ability to converse in full sentences?" Wedge asked from the door, eyebrows raised. He'd listened to the last half of the conversation. "The fact that her head fits through the door frame?"

Face cleared his throat. "How long were you standing there for, sir?"

"Long enough. Are you four almost ready, or do you want to finish your pissing match?" The man asked, voice stern, although he was valiantly trying to keep a straight face.

"We can finish it later, sir." Face promised, and Tyria snorted.

"Can we not? Why does it matter?" When she glanced around, realising that at Lieutenant, she was the lowest ranking officer in the room, she added hastily, "Sirs."

"Lieutenant Sarkin's right. All that matters right now is the mission. You've got all your false documents?" Wedge prompted, and they fished them out. "You all know the objective?"

"Make contact with at least two individuals from Bane's Revival, follow them back to their ships, and attach the tracking devices. Then we'll follow them until they return to their base of operations." Tyria quoted, nearly word for word with the information they'd been given at the mission briefing. Wedge had tried to drill her perfectionist nature out of her when he was commanding Wraith Squadron, but it seemed it had come back under Face's command.

When he spared a glance at the Captain, all he got was a shake of the head. It didn't happen when she gave _him_ reports. Wedge had broken her of the need to stand at complete attention whenever he entered the room, but it seemed the habit had come back with his absence from the squadron. He just sighed. It was something he'd have to deal with _after_ the mission.

"Then get to the hangar. Your shuttle's prepped."

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"Why do all the pirate groups out there have such stupid names?" Face complained quietly as they walked through the door to a very dodgy cantina.

"Because the 'Hawkbats' was _so_ much better." Corran retorted in a mutter, referring to one of the Wraiths' first missions.

"The Hawkbats were ruthless-" Face began, voice building in dramatic effect, but Wes elbowed him, silencing the former actor with a stern look.

"Shut. Up." He muttered, wondering – not for the first time – how stupid Wedge had to be to put him in a situation where _he_ had to be the commanding officer, and by extension, the mature one.

They made their way over to the bar, faces hard under the make up. "What d'you have in the way of a whiskey?"

The bartender, a Rodian who seemed much too tall for his species to be working behind a bar, grunted a few words in his native tongue before answer the question in Basic. "Corellian and a Twi'lek-"

"We'll take what the Twi'lekki have to offer." Corran, aka Pashak Drell, interrupted gruffly. Wes had to hide a wince when the bartender turned with a laugh. That was _not_ a good sign.

Tyria had leant over the bar, to see a raised platform on the other side, making the Rodian tall enough to see over the bar. She let out a snort, and gave a little smirk. Her cover alias was a bitch. The bartender ignored her, but Wes saw him lean over the drink he passed to Tyria. _I sure hope there're some pirates here. Or we'll be starting trouble for no reason._

"Hey, what you tryin' ta pull?" Wes grabbed the front of the bartender's shirt, pulling him halfway over the bar. "What'd you put in her drink?"

The little green man chattered in Rodian, and Wes pushed him back over the bar. "You don' want ta mess wiv us! We've taken down _three_ Republic cruisers!"

"The little guy's saying he spat in her drink." A man approached with two others flanking him. "Because she insulted his height."

"I didn't hear nothing." Corran retorted. "She didn't say a word about his height. Or lack there of."

The Rodian chattered again, and the man continued to translate. Wes didn't mention he knew Rodian. The man was grinning. "He'd like us to stop referring to his height. He reckons he's tall for his species."

Face spoke for the first time since he entered the bar, a derisive tone to his voice. "I reckon he's a liar and a thief. This aint Twi'lekki whiskey. This is the kind of rubbish you'd find in the worst cantinas in Mos Eisley." To punctuate his statement, he swallowed the glassful of whiskey, and somehow managed to keep a straight face. "Engine fuel tastes better."

The three men shared a look, and their spokesman smirked. "Let's talk."

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A cell phone rang, and Elliot frowned, fishing through his pocket for the offending machine. "Stabler." He barked into the phone, and listened to the response, before his frown deepened, and he glanced up at Sarah. "May I ask who's calling?" Another pause, and he passed the phone to the knight. "An 'Officer Ziva David' wants to speak to you."

Sarah accepted the phone without a word and put it to her ear. "Sarah here."

"We need you here, now." The Israeli's voice was hurried. "We found a lead on the murderer, and the bartender called Tony-"

"I'll be there in thirty seconds, Ziva. Calm down. Just hold on." Sarah ordered, before flipping the phone shut and sending Mara a glance. "You ready?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" The redhead sent her a dirty look.

"Things tend to happen pretty damn quick around me when they start." The knight warned. When Mara's expression didn't change, she let out a grin. "Good." Turning to Elliot, the grin became a grimace. "Are you able to-"

"I'll look after the kids." He promised.

"Thanks." With that, Sarah clapped a hand on Mara's shoulder, and they were gone.

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The reappeared in the NCIS bullpen to the waiting faces of Ziva, McGee and Gibbs. "That was forty five seconds." Was the only thing Gibbs said before he walked briskly to the elevator.

"Where are we headed?" Sarah asked as she and Mara followed the three agents.

"A bar in Norfolk." Gibbs' answer was short and to the point.

"And DiNozzo, in his infinite wisdom, decided to confront this guy alone? Why the _hell_ didn't you call me _before_ it got to this?" Sarah snapped, running her hand through her hair. _This is gonna be a mess._

"Director Shepard is still wary of your interference. She does not know you are here." Ziva explained. "And Tony broke many rules by running off to deal with this alone." The Israeli sighed. "I am afraid there may be a pretty girl involved-"

"Ziva!" Gibbs barked, and the woman sent Sarah a tight look, before rushing after the man, who was waiting in the elevator.

The elevator ride seemed to last forever, and when they were through, they split up, with Sarah and Mara following Gibbs to his car, and Ziva and McGee peeling off to their own. Within seconds of sitting down, they were speeding off. Gibbs didn't even stop to put on his seat belt.

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"You _stupid, arrogant_ man!" Lt Colonel Daniel Lavigne shrieked, one hand to his head as though to ward off a head ache, the other stretched out in front of him, glowing a deep golden colour, clenched in a fist.

"Hey, hey, Danny, my man," DiNozzo's voice was nervous, he kept glancing to the door to the dingy bar he'd found his suspect at. Lavigne had shut it somehow, trapping DiNozzo and the last five of the patrons and the bartender in the hole. Yet the music was still pumping. The field agent had his gun trained on the man, but he didn't think that would help much if he was the one killing Marines with magic. Which it was pretty obvious he was, considering the light show he was giving. "Why don't we calm down for a bit, and talk this over?"

Lavigne gave a wordless shriek, and the hand outstretched opened and flared. "No! You'll ruin _everything!_ The sacrifices, the rituals, you'll ruin them!"

DiNozzo raised his arms, abandoning his aim on the suspect, and covered his face as the world turned golden…

TBC…

And now for an excessively long authors note:

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Just kidding! On with the story!

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Gibbs had jumped the curb when he pulled to a stop in front of a dive bar called 'Subzero'. Now Sarah hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and threw her door open, sharing a glance at Mara. There was some serious power going down in the dive bar. The knight and the Jedi didn't wait for the NCIS agents, running for the door instead.

When Sarah tried the door handle, power jolted up her arm, causing her to cry out and stagger back a few steps. "He's jamming the door shut with his Gift." She yelled.

"Do something!" Gibbs roared.

She took a breath, pushing Gibbs and Ziva back with her as she took a few steps back, before pointing at the door and focusing. She shouted a word in Old Thak, and the door blasted inwards…

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The wave of golden energy washed over him, but DiNozzo didn't feel the pain he'd been expecting. Cautiously, he opened his eyes to see gold intermingled with crimson, and his gaze flew to the door, where their original suspect, Sarah Gibson, stood with Gibbs and Ziva on either side. Her hand was outstretched, and she looked _pissed_.

"Everyone out!" She shouted, and the rest of the patrons ran up the stairs and past her, to freedom.

"You!" Lavigne shrieked.

"Yeah, me." The knight retorted, taking the stairs slowly, her hand still pointed at the middle of the room where the shield now stretched from wall to wall, with Lavigne on one side, and DiNozzo on the other. "Now why don't you calm down before you use up all of your Gift trying to break through my shield. Trust me, it's not going to happen."

"I didn't want this! It was an accident, I didn't mean-"

"But you meant what you were about to do just then." Sarah interrupted coolly. She'd drawn even with DiNozzo – now she pushed him behind her. "You were about to deliberately murder Special Agent DiNozzo. In case you were wondering, that's the death sentence, friend."

"Who's going to kill him, Messenger?" A confident voice asked, coming from a corridor with a men's room sign on the wall. "You?"

"If it's needful." She replied, pumping more power into her shield before glancing at Mara and muttering, "I have a bad feeling about this." The man came around the corner, and Sarah's jaw dropped. Tall, gangly and sallow, the man's eyes glowed a brilliant white. "I have a _really_ bad feeling about this."

"What's going on?" Gibbs asked, edging closer to the woman who was shining crimson from her shield.

"You all need to get out of here." Sarah said, shooting a glance at Mara. "_All_ of you."

"No way." Mara shook her head. "He's giving off more hatred and anger than anyone I've faced since the Emperor. I'm not leaving you to do this alone."

Sarah growled, but didn't reply. She raised her voice and addressed the newcomer. "Who are you?"

"Theodore Marsh." He replied, and Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Teddy, you've got a fair amount of power there. You mind telling me where you got it?" She questioned, and nudged Gibbs, hissing, "Get the hell out of here!"

He just shook his head, and Sarah gritted her teeth. Teddy was answering. "What makes you think it is not my natural power?"

"Because I've faced off against a Black Robe mage before, he was trained to use his Gift to its full potential, and he didn't have half the power you do. An untrained Earthling couldn't possibly have the kind of juice you're putting out." Sarah replied honestly. "You know what, never mind. I'll find out for myself."

"Sarah…" Mara spoke softly. "I've been trying to get a read on him, but he's blocking me somehow. I've come close to punching through a few times, but…"

_You can't block the Force with the Gift… can you_? Sarah was getting more nervous by the second, but she took a deep calming breath anyway and put a hand on the amber pendant she was given from the Goddess and muttered a variation of the Spell of Sight.

"I wouldn't do that, Messenger." Teddy's smooth voice warned.

Sarah persisted, keeping her shield up while she sent strength into the Spell of Sight. She got a glimpse of a second figure inhabiting the man's body before a force sent her flying backwards, into a wall, her vision flaring. She heard Mara cry out, and instinctively threw more strength into the shield.

"What the-" She heard Gibbs' voice ask in shock.

Sarah, for her part, couldn't see anything except a white blur. Teddy's voice was entirely too smug. "I'm impressed by your instincts, Messenger. You're incapacitated, so you strengthen your shield? But you can't say that I didn't warn you."

"How's Mara?" Sarah asked as hands helped her into a sitting position.

Ziva answered her. "She's alright. She was knocked off of her feet, but she's standing now."

"We have to get out of here." Sarah advised as she blindly reached for Ziva's shoulder to help her into a standing position. "If whatever it is in Teddy's body decides to kill us, there's no way I'll be able to stop him."

"You don't have to worry about that." Sarah felt Ziva shake her head, but she still couldn't see a thing. "'Teddy' ran out the door while you were still down."

Sarah sighed in relief.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"Sit still, Miss Gibson!" Ducky's voice came from in front of her. Sarah could only see a coloured blur.

"I'll get my vision back soon!" She retorted. "I don't need you to run a battery of tests, I'll be fine! Go check on Mara."

"Don't you dare. I just overdid myself, trying to sense what he wanted to hide." The redhead warned. "If you so much as _try_-"

"Yes, well, all the same…" The man didn't sound convinced at the state of their wellbeing. "What did you say our accomplice was?"

"Lavigne was the accomplice – there's no way a God would be anything less than the head honcho." Sarah muttered, rubbing her eyes for the fifth time that minute. "And Lavigne didn't murder those people – he didn't have the power or the control to do such a good job of killing your Marines. It was definitely Teddy boy."

"I'm sorry, please, don't take this the wrong way, but are you-"

"Doctor Mallard, I've faced mages before. Every raiding season you get a handful of powerful-ish ones, and a whole heap of firestarters. I've even faced one of the seven most powerful mages in _the entire dimension_, and won. So I know a little bit about power levels of mages, and while I might only be an Adept, I'm more than proficient." Sarah interrupted firmly.

She heard the resignation on his voice as he shuffled away, presumably to tend to Mara. "Well, I _did_ say not to take it the wrong way."

Sarah wasn't listening, however. _One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight_-

"I said I'm fine! It's just a headache!" Mara's voice was threatening, and Sarah had to fight a laugh. _Not even ten seconds. And people say _I'm_ bad._

She heard Ducky muttering, "At least the dead don't…" She didn't hear the rest of his complaint as Gibbs started speaking from somewhere to her left. She turned her head and saw a brown and blue blur, the colours he was wearing before the incident at the Subzero.

"So you think it's a God in a man's body who killed those three Marines." His voice was devoid of emotion –she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"I got a glimpse before he blinded me. There's definitely something in there, and it's not human. Unless we're dealing with something localised to this dimension that's able to inhabit a person's body, yeah, we're dealing with a God." Sarah replied, sick of the line of questioning. They just wouldn't believe her.

Gibbs started saying something, but he cut himself off as two sets of footsteps approached from the entrance. Sarah frowned. DiNozzo, McGee, Ducky, Abby and Gibbs were already in Autopsy – assuming Ziva was one of the footsteps, she still didn't know the second.

"Special Agent Gibbs, I thought I made myself clear." Director Shepard's sharp voice came from behind Sarah. "You were not to involve Miss Gibson in any aspect of this case."

"She saved my life, Director." DiNozzo's voice was defensive. "I'd have ended up just like those Marines if Gibbs hadn't ordered Ziva to call her."

"Actually, you would have died a considerably slower and more painful death." Sarah piped up helpfully. "I doubt Lavigne would have been able to incinerate your flesh like Teddy did."

"As pleasant as that thought is," Shepard began, "She's a liability to the case-"

Sarah snapped, turning around and facing the general direction of the woman in question. "What case?! Do you honestly believe that when you catch this guy, he's going quietly? He will kill anyone that tries to imprison him –that's evident enough by the fact that he tried killing your agent just for confronting him. He won't go down without a fight, and the only person in this _dimension_ that can provide the kind of fight you need is _me_. And I'm telling you, unless he _wants_ to go to prison, you won't be able to hold him." Sarah started pacing, avoiding the blurs that got in her way. "Heck, stick a hedgewitch in prison and you won't be able to hold them for more than a few days."

"Are you saying that a different set of laws apply to people with special abilities?" Shepard asked. Her voice sounded incredulous. "That if you were to commit an imprisonable offence you'd have to be killed to be punished-"

"I'm saying that Daniel Lavigne is a danger to anyone that tries to apprehend him. If a suspect pulls a gun and is about to fire, do you try to handcuff him, or do you shoot the bastard before he shoots you?" Sarah answered the Director's question with one of her own.

"She raises a good point, Jen." Gibbs' voice was soft. "This guy's magic is a loaded gun, and he tried firing it at DiNozzo earlier. We can't take any risks with this. We need Gibson."

Shepard was silent for a few moments – Sarah assumed she was in the middle of a staring competition with Gibbs. Finally, she heard the woman sigh. "Fine."

"Good." Sarah sighed with relief. "Now, Mara, I need you to come to Tortall and help me find a book called-"

"I can't read." The redhead reminded her.

"_What_?" Sarah could hear the frown on DiNozzo's voice – she could _almost_ see it.

"They've got a different alphabet there." Sarah explained. "I had to learn it when I got there, it actually added credence to my homeless person act that I used to get close to Leia and her kids before they trusted me."

Someone was jumping up and down near Sarah. She thought, from the colour of the person's hair, it was either Ziva or Abby. Seeing as Ziva was entirely too dignified to jump up and down on the spot, it had to be Abby. "Yes Abby?"

"Ooh, your vision's better, is it?" She asked excitedly. "Well, I read English, and I'd be more than happy to help you in any way you need. I'll be like… a guide dog! I'll be your guide dog for until you can see perfectly."

Sarah sighed. "Fine. Come on then."

"Wait a minute – I just need my camera and Bert." The woman bounced out of the room without another word, and Sarah sighed.

"I don't have time to wait. Someone else come with me." Sarah called.

"No way." DiNozzo was the first to decline, which surprised Sarah a great deal. "Abby can kill a person without leaving a trace, and she wants to go. It'll be safer just to wait."

Similar refusals followed, and Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, growing impatient. "Who's Bert, anyway?"

"Ah…"

"You see, Bert's…" McGee trailed off.

No one seemed to be able to answer her question, so they settled down to wait. They didn't have to wait long, as she more or less _ran_ back into Autopsy. "Ready!"

Sarah sighed again, but before she could comment, she heard a loud… _farting noise?_ Silence reigned, and Sarah closed her eyes in exasperation. "Who was that?"

"That was Bert." Shepard's voice was amused.

"_Who the hell is Bert?_" Sarah demanded.

"Her stuffed hippo. He makes noises of flatulence when squeezed." Ziva explained patiently.

"Right. Abby, are you ready?" Sarah's patience was used up.

Another fart noise, and the woman nodded violently enough for Sarah see. "Yes Sir Sarah, I am."

"Don't call me that."

"But we're going to-"

"Only people I don't like call me 'Sir Sarah' in Tortall. Take my hand." Sarah instructed. The eccentric forensics expert complied, and Sarah focused on her quarters back in Corus.

"Oh my God!" Abby almost yelled when they reappeared in Sarah's rooms. "We just teleported!"

Sarah heard the tell tale sound of a camera shuttering, and closed her eyes in exasperation - again. "Let's just focus. My bookcase is against the southern wall." She pointed in the direction she thought was the bookcase, and continued. "The second shelf from the bottom, there should be a book with olive green binding. It should say 'Visages of the Gods' in big curly writing. It's a pretty big book, too."

"Ooh!"

"You've found it?" Sarah asked, impressed with her speed.

"What's this one about? 'Sixth Year Potions'-"

"That's not the right one." Sarah almost groaned. She should have just grabbed Ziva and forced her to help.

"But what's it about-"

"It's my Potions text book from when I was incognito at a school for magic a few years back. Can we just focus-"

"Oh, I found that book first thing. Now I'm just looking-"

"Abby!" Sarah would have hit the forensics expert, if she could see properly.

"Fine, fine, let's go." Abby grabbed her hand, and Sarah sighed heavily, before focusing on Autopsy.

"Did you get what you needed?" Shepard asked almost as soon as they'd appeared.

"Yes. Now I just need someone to open up 'Visages of the Gods' to the 'S' section and look through the Scanran Gods' visages for a man with shortish white blonde hair, a roughly trimmed goatee, very blue eyes and a necklace made of knuckle bones." Sarah replied.

"How do you know all of that-"

"I got a glimpse of him just before the bastard blinded me. He had a very Scanran-esque look to him." She explained. "I need to know who it is we're up against."

"Where'd you get that book from?" Ziva asked. "How was it made? Did the Gods just sit down for their portraits to be painted-"

"No, but they tend to stick to the same appearances in certain countries. It makes life easier when they have to approach an unsuspecting mortal. This is just a book on an artist's depiction of the Gods, and I got it from Numair, who thought it would be funny to give me a book on their visages when I meet with them all the time." Sarah rolled her eyes. "I haven't even cracked the book open until now."

"It's an unusual indexing system." Ducky commented. Sarah could see him now, only slightly blurry. Almost everyone was crowded around the book – the only people who seemed too aloof to do something of the sort were the Director, Gibbs and Mara.

"Yeah, well, the artist was somewhat unorthodox." Sarah shrugged, and settled down on the cold steel bench to wait. After a moment, she realised her head was pounding.

Ducky must have noticed the pained look on her face, because the next thing she noticed was him bustling over with a glass of water and a foil sealed packet of aspirin. "You must have a terrible headache after tonight's festivities."

"Thankyou, Doctor Mallard." She couldn't keep the relief from her voice as she popped two of the pills and washed them down quickly.

"I've told you, call me Ducky." His voice was kind. "Perhaps you should get some rest – or at least, rest your eyes. They'll recover quicker if you do."

Sarah took him at his word and lay back on the steel slab, refusing to think about the double meaning involved with lying on an autopsy table, when it was a _God_ she was facing, and closed her eyes. She heard him bustle away to offer Mara the aspirin, and her breathing evened out.

It seemed like the blink of an eye, and she could see again. In perfect clarity, and what she was seeing scared the crap out of her. _Not again…_ her mindvoice moaned, just as something grabbed hold of her arm. Instinctively, she panicked, flailing, until a familiar voice filtered through the haze of fear. "Wake up, Sarah."

It was Mara, her voice quiet. Sarah's eyes opened of their own accord, and she found she could make out the concerned faces looking down at her. Mara, Abby and Ducky. "Miss Gibson-" The older man began.

"Sarah, Ducky. Sarah." She interrupted, voice hoarse as she pushed herself into a sitting position, silently cursing the White Martians in every language she knew.

"Sarah, are you alright?" The concern in his voice was almost too much for her; she nearly lashed out at the doctor.

Instead, she bit out, "Never better."

"It's alright to have nightmares." Abby tried. "I have nightmares all the time. Like, sometimes, I'm running through the streets, and there's this axe murderer after me, and-"

"As reassuring as I'm _sure_ that little tale is going to be," Sarah interrupted firmly with a yawn. "Do we have a name for our mystery deity yet?"

"Yahzed." DiNozzo pronounced proudly.

Sarah screwed up her face. "Can't be. He's one of the few Gods that consider the Gift to be an abomination. He'd never team up with a couple of two bit sorcerers."

"No, look. He's blonde. He has blue eyes. He has a knucklebone necklace, which, might I say is _disgusting_, and he has a goatee. Just like you described him. It's Yahzed."

She frowned and made her way over to the book, to the page DiNozzo pointed at, and groaned. "Shit. We need the Great Mother Goddess, Mithros and anyone else that feels like lending a hand. But so far, I haven't gotten an answer." She'd been praying since they'd escaped from Subzero with their lives.

"Don't you have to do some kind of ritual to summon a God?" This was Abby's voice, and she sounded entirely too interested in the entire process.

"No, as their Messenger one of them tends to keep an ear to the ground, so that if I call and it's really important, I tend to get an answer. Or at least, I do when I'm on a mission. It could be that since I'm on holidays, _apparently_, they're ignoring me." Sarah gave a humourless chuckle. "Which is really ironic, considering I'd normally love the fact that they didn't have any plans for my immediate future."

"Well, _couldn't_ you do some kind of ritual?" Abby pressed.

"You just want to see some magic, don't ya Abs?" DiNozzo's voice sounded smug. "I mean, I'm not sure she has another light show in her-"

"Don't pretend to know my strength, DiNozzo. As to whether I could do a ritual, I suppose there are a few standard callings that seem to get their attention a bit better than the standard 'yo, wassup Mithros'. No fireworks in them, unfortunately." Sarah shrugged. "It's worth a shot, I guess."

The knight grasped the amber pendant and took a deep breath. Just as she was about to call to the Great Mother Goddess, a voice came through the room. "I wouldn't do that, Messenger."

"Holy crap-" DiNozzo's voice was almost panicked. "Where'd that come from-"

"He's using a speech spell." Sarah explained. "And a powerful one at that – he's probably no where near here."

"Oh, contraire." His voice sounded amused. "I'm closer than you think."

A door slammed, and someone let out a frightened yelp. Abby or McGee, Sarah couldn't tell. "You're not there." Sarah replied confidently.

"And how did you know?" He asked.

"You didn't do that thorough a job blinding me last time." Sarah taunted.

"Are you tempting me?"

"Nope. Just stating a fact. Now why shouldn't I call the Great Mother Goddess to exorcise your arse?" Sarah asked sweetly.

"Go ahead and try. She won't answer, though. I have someone intercepting your pleas for help." He let out a laugh, and Sarah felt a shudder creep down her spine despite herself.

So she did. She tried three times, before she realised that he was probably telling the truth. "Shit." She breathed.

"And now I'm coming for you. My brother was wrong to ban me from calling upon you for purposes of my own – and now I'm going to break Mithros' little toy." His voice seemed to echo around the room, and it lowered dramatically as he added, "But I no longer require the insects. They shall be dealt with first."

"What? Who the hell-" Shepard was yelling, gun drawn and pointed at the door of Autopsy. The colour drained from Sarah's face as a wind picked up in the room, and papers started flying.

"Everyone, grab each others' hands!" She yelled, before directing her last statement at Yahzed. "You might be able to block my prayers, but you can't stop me from teleporting, not when the power comes directly from Mithros." With that final defiance, she latched onto Mara's wrist, and focused on the Temple of the Goddess, in Corus.

TBC….

A/n. Sorry to any and all star wars fans. I know that might have been painful for you. I just couldn't get it right, so I posted what I had.  
I hope you enjoyed, but feel free to tell me if you didn't.


	13. Chapter 13

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, a happy Hanukah, Kwanza and whatever other holidays you may celebrate. And I apologize for the long wait… yet again.

Anyway, on with the show!

Chapter 13:

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Sarah swore loudly as she fumbled for some incense. She'd teleported to the Temple of the Goddess in the hopes of summoning the Goddess from there. All she had to do was find the cupboard the priestesses kept the incense, which was harder than she had thought. The priestesses were too busy trying to usher the men out of the building to help her find them, so Sarah was ransacking the cupboards. Ducky, McGee and Gibbs were cooperating. DiNozzo wasn't.

"Hey, I've got as much a right to be here as the girls!" He protested. "Tell them, Sarah."

"We're on the run from someone trying to hunt down your Goddess' Messenger." She barked at the women. "Don't try my patience, because I have none left."

"Great Messenger-"

"This is why I never visit the bloody temples, and why I don't know where the incense is, because you people just don't listen when I tell you to _call me Sarah!_" Getting frustrated, she pointed a finger, and all of the cupboards in the temple burst open. Now the priestesses were more concerned with cleaning up the mess Sarah had left than ushering the men out.

Sarah, for her part, went straight to the cupboard where the incense sat and pulled out every stick, dumping them hurriedly on the counter. Next, she swiped her hand over the lot of them, and they burst into flames. "Goddess, I could _really_ use your presence right now, but if he's got someone blocking the prayers that come from your own _temple_ from your ears, then we're screwed."

There was a flash of light, and Sarah let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Goddess, thankyou for coming."

The glowing woman gave a nod. "What has you frightened so, Messenger?"

Sarah ignored the various NCIS agents gaping at the deity, and the priestesses with their foreheads put to the floor, and DiNozzo, seeming to have recovered from the appearance of a God in their midst, who was now focusing on the priestesses' backsides. She turned to the Goddess, jaw clenched. "I need your help. There's a God possessing a human in their dimension, like Mithros did me, but I don't think this one has any intention of letting go of his plaything too quickly. I got a brief look at him before he temporarily blinded me – I'm almost certain it's Yahzed."

"He is in a mortal's body?" The Goddess elaborated, voice neutral.

"Yes. Theodore Marsh, apparently. He's teamed up with another mortal-"

"If he is inhabiting a mortal's body, there is nothing I can do about it. You must make him let go-"

"_What?!"_ Sarah exclaimed, shaking her head. "No, no, no, he's way too powerful for me. You _have_ to help!"

"I cannot. It is against the-"

"If you say rules…" Sarah began threateningly.

"I cannot help what restrictions my parents set for me, Messenger. You know that." Instead of being angry at the tone of voice Sarah had used to address her, the Goddess' voice was understanding. "While my brother is in the body of a mortal, he has the restrictions of one. He must eat, sleep, breathe. If you should kill him, he will be forced to let go of the body-"

"Marsh might be just an innocent pawn of Yahzed. I'm supposed to kill an innocent-"

"Messenger, we cannot take control of a mortal's body in our siblings' land without the mortal letting us." The Goddess advised. "Marsh is as much to blame for the murders that have been committed as my brother. You must-"

"This is a load of _bullshit_." Sarah muttered.

She knew she had crossed a line when the Goddess's voice took on a tone of reproach, and it started to sound like howling wolves again. "Messenger, you are our instrument to bend the rules. Only you can force Yahzed out of Theodore's body. Until then, we cannot help you in the way that you wish, regardless of your feelings on the matter." With that, she disappeared, and Sarah winced.

"Maybe if we offer Yahzed DC he'll leave the rest of the world alone." She muttered, to the shock of the gathered NCIS employees.

"It's that bad?" Mara asked quietly.

"It's worse." Sarah retorted, but any reply was cut off by an angry looking Head Priestess clearing her throat. "Yes?"

"You have caused damage to this Temple." She informed icily. Obviously, she took the mistreatment of her patron seriously.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll pay for it." Sarah rolled her eyes, calming down slightly. "I don't have any coin on me now, but you know who I am, where I live, and who my patron is. I'm good for it." With that, she walked out of the temple, beckoning for the others to follow.

They had walked in silence for five minutes before Shepard gathered her wits enough to ask the question everyone was thinking. "Where are we going?"

Without speaking, Sarah pointed at the palace. An almost noiseless 'oh' followed the enquiry, but Sarah wasn't focusing on that. She was thinking hard, planning, and glancing around surreptitiously.

A hooded figure slipped into the large group smoothly. "My lady."

"Marek." She replied, but kept her face forward.

"And what's got you in th' City at this time of night durin' your holidays with a bunch o' strange people?" The King of the Rogue asked cheerfully.

"Well, that'd be the crisis in their country that I've got to deal with sooner rather than later." She replied gruffly.

He wasn't able to comment as Abby blurted, "He's got a knife."

"So do I. As the King of Thieves, he's expected to have many knives." The knight retorted, and Mara snorted.

"Wait, what?" DiNozzo asked stupidly, grabbing Sarah's arm and stopping her relentless stride towards the palace.

"You heard me the first time." She gently withdrew from his grasp, and turned her full attention to Marek. "Who has an unregistered black opal around here?"

Not much could surprise the master thief, but at this he blinked in shock. "What trouble have ya gotten yourself into now, lass?"

"Remember Krendice? Yeah, he was child's play. Answer the question, Marek." She ordered, staring him down.

"A coupl' a merchant houses are rumoured to have one or two lyin' round. But ya know th' King requires them t' be registered since th' mining at Dunlath. You've got t' pay the fee, and-"

"Unless the bearer has specific permission for a specific purpose. D'you reckon I'll be able to get Jon to agree to me using one when I'm up against someone that makes Krendice's power look like a gentle breeze?" Sarah asked, and started walking back towards the palace. "I need it yesterday."

"Give me three hours."

"That'll have to do. I'll meet you at the Dove later." She agreed reluctantly, and the man disappeared into the crowd once more.

The rest of the group rushed to catch up with Sarah. McGee was the first to speak. "Did you just commission the theft of-"

"Yes."

"But you're a knight!" Abby exclaimed. "You're supposed to-"

"Black focusing opals are restricted, ever since Tristan Staghorn and Yolane of Dunlath tried using ogres to mine them and usurp King Jon's rule with the power you can store in them. I can have Marek steal one, which will be quicker, or I can bust down the door of whoever happens to own an unregistered one and haul them to the cages for questioning and sentencing. At the very least, the fine they get will cripple their business. This is just less painful for everyone involved." Sarah explained. "Now shut up, cause there's a bunch of Provost's guards over there."

They walked past silently, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Shepard spun Sarah around. "Jethro _assured_ me you were a good person, that you weren't a criminal. We're not here for more than a few minutes, and you've already had your friend, the _King of Thieves_ go off to steal something."

"Get over it." Sarah replied coldly, shaking the Director's hand off of her shoulder. They were almost to the palace gates now. Just as they approached, Abby gasped loudly.

"Oh my God! Bert! I left him back in Autopsy…" The woman looked frantic.

Sarah stared at her for a full ten seconds before realising the woman was completely serious. "I'm sorry, but we aren't going back for your stuffed hippo."

"But-"

"But I've grown accustomed to this thing called 'breathing'." The knight interrupted, nodding to the guardsman as he let them through, eyebrows raised.

"But-"

"I'll buy you a new one, Abs." Gibbs promised.

"But it's Bert!" She pleaded. Sarah just sent her a cold look.

"But it's my life we're risking. I'll risk it for a lot of things – stuffed hippos aren't on the list."

Sarah had thought they'd gotten through the gate unscathed – she was wrong. "Ho the Palace! Th' Messenger has returned!" The guardsman had just waited for the entire group to get through before making his announcement. Sarah considered going back and giving him a piece of her mind, or perhaps her fist, but she just let out an annoyed sigh instead. It wasn't his fault she was in a severely bad mood.

As a result of his announcement, she was greeted by Alanna a few steps into the corridor. "Sarah, what are you doing back so soon? Have you caught the murderer yet-" Sarah gave her a dark look. "What? What's happened?"

"Later. Get Numair and meet me at the magical stores. I'll explain there."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"Excuse me, you can't go in there." A nasally voice rang out from the office attached to the magical stores. Sarah stopped and hung her head, letting out a breath. "You need permission from the King's chief mages to be here."

_Why does he hate me so?_ She wondered mournfully. The clerk of the magical stores had had it out for her since she'd first arrived in Tortall. "Look, I'm meeting Master Salmalin here. Just let it slide."

"No. You need express written permission from the King's chief mages to enter the magical stores. If you don't have it, you'll just have to find whatever it is you're looking for elsewhere." His voice was firm, and Sarah briefly wondered what it was about her that made only noble conservatives and raiders afraid of her wrath.

"I'm in a bit of a rush, I'd like to have what I need organized _before_ Numair gets here, so-"

"You need permission-"

"One insane God after me says I have permission. Let me in." Her voice lowered dangerously. The NCIS employees all remained silent, behind Sarah, letting her sort it out, but Mara stepped forward, eyes narrowed at the clerk.

"No." His voice didn't even quaver as he held his ground, and Sarah gritted her teeth.

"Let me in you son of a bitch, or I'll blast you from here to Carthak-"

A familiar and amused voice sounded behind her. "Well, Sarah, threatening my clerks are we?"

Sarah turned and glared at King Jonathan. "Yes, I bloody well am! Your clerk sucks_._ This whole night sucks! _Their dimension _sucks!" She pointed at Gibbs, Ziva and the others.

Thayet, beside her husband, raised an eyebrow. Numair, Daine and Alanna had also followed. "Why does this evening 'suck', as you so eloquently put it?"

"Because Yahzed wants me dead. He's the guy murdering people in their dimension. He hijacked a mortal's body so that the Goddess and Mithros can't do anything about it, and he's looking to kill me because Mithros wouldn't let him use me for a mission. That, my dearest Queen, is why this evening _sucks._" Sarah explained evenly.

Stunned silence greeted her statement. Numair was the first to recover. "Perhaps we should discuss this someplace private." Then he turned to the clerk, gaze hostile. "And for future reference, Lady Knight Sarah of Greenstone, Adept in the Mithran Way, has my express permission to use these stores at any time she requires. She does not need to be in my presence, nor does she need written permission, and if I find you _didn't_ follow that instruction, know that a new clerk can be trained to replace you."

At this, the man gulped heavily and nodded. "Y-yes, Master Salmalin."

They left the entrance to the stores, with Sarah grumbling. "How is it that you threaten his job and he goes all 'yes sir, no sir, whatever you say sir', but I threaten his life and he still doesn't let me past?"

"Because it's his job to make sure only authorized people are let into the stores, and until now I hadn't thought to make you an authorized person." Numair admitted. "You won't have that problem again."

"Damn straight I won't." She muttered to herself, ignoring the trailing Earthlings. "Next time I'll just knock him out and pick the damn lock."

"Oh, this is doing _great_ for your gut feeling, Jethro." Shepard commented from behind them, her voice snide. "She's a good person, you say, but she commissions a thief and knows how to pick locks. Not to mention she just threatened to do to that man what Lavigne was doing to the Marines."

Alanna stopped walking, obviously to set the other redhead straight, but Sarah shook her head. "Don't bother, Alanna. She won't like me no matter how 'Lioness' you go on her."

"So she doesn't care that you and the League almost died when you stopped the White Martians?" Daine asked, anger mounting with every word she said.

Sarah bit back a laugh. "Why should she? I don't."

The Wildmage sighed, anger disappearing. "We do. You shouldn't face Yahzed alone."

"I won't. I'll have my trusty Dagger of Shakith and token from the Goddess." Sarah replied with cheer she didn't feel. "What more could a girl need?"

"Sarah-"

"Let's just get to the war room, shall we? Then we can discuss my inevitable demise." Sarah stopped Numair from speaking.

Unfortunately, the walk wasn't to be as short as Sarah hoped, as Sir Ansil of Groten approached, a cocky grin on his face. "What, get kicked out of Emelan, did you? Had too many peddlers and vagabonds already, so you had to bring some back with you?"

Ziva moved to step forward, but Sarah stopped her with an outstretched arm. Jon's eyes narrowed. "Knight, I suggest you leave before I decide you're getting too complacent in your skills in the palace and send you on a border patrol."

Groten, who it seemed had forgotten the presence of his King when insulting Sarah, immediately bowed low. "My apologies, Majesty-"

"Do not apologize for your insecurities." Ziva interrupted his contrition, a grin on her face. "Just because you _know_ we are more skilled with weapons than you-"

Sarah sighed, thinking as Groten stepped forward, eyes flashing, _Ziva… why'd you have to go do that? Now I'm going to have to do something rash…_ "Back off, Groten. You don't want the trouble tangling with me tonight will bring."

"I think I do!" He snapped back. "That whore-"

He was cut off by Sarah's fist colliding painfully with his jaw. He stumbled back, and Sarah finished him off with a snapkick to his chest, sending him down onto his back. "I didn't mean a duel. I'm sick to death of dueling you – it bores me. So next time you advance on a friend of mine, or a guest of mine, expect to have the crap beaten out of you, _off the records._ And I won't be stopping at first blood."

"Sarah!" Jon cried, aghast. "I can't believe-"

"What?" She interrupted, face outrageously innocent. "He's a son of a bitch, it's well within my rights to challenge him. I know, I know, it's _supposed_ to be an open handed slap, but I swear my fist closed of its own volition. My fingers have a mind of their own – it must be the stress of the _God_ that's trying to kill me, I don't know…"

Groten was scurrying off, so they continued on their way. Alanna was fighting back a grin. "So what happened with your foot?"

"Oh, that. Well… I slipped when I took a step forward to steady the poor fellow, and my foot accidentally collided with his chest."

"That was the man that challenged you to a duel when Luke was here?" Mara asked, and Sarah nodded. The redhead just laughed.

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"Really, Sarah, you didn't need to hit him so hard." Thayet spoke with a sigh as they approached the war room.

"Are you _kidding_?" The knight asked, incredulous. "I didn't hit him hard enough!"

"I happen to agree with that statement." Ziva put in. "He was going to try hitting me, and I would have broken a limb. It is lucky Sarah handled it."

Alanna looked like she regretted every word she was about to say. "Thayet's right. Much though it pains me to admit it, you really should have let up the by the third or fourth strike…"

"Ha ha, you're a real laugh." The younger woman spoke sullenly. "I only hit him twice."

Jon was shaking his head, trying valiantly to hide the amusement on his face behind a mask of admonishment as he opened the door to the war room. When they walked in, they saw a figure already sitting in the King's chair in the darkened room. Sarah immediately stepped in front of Jonathan, but a familiar lilting laugh made her relax.

"That's not your chair, Marek." Alanna remarked evenly as she sat down in her own.

"Just how did you get in here, Marek?" Jon asked tiredly, staring at the man until he removed his feet from the table and moved to another seat.

"That's my seat." Sarah pointed out, and the Rogue just shrugged. Sarah let a wicked grin cross her face, and she plonked herself down in his lap.

"Oompff!" He exhaled, shoving at her. "Get your bony arse offa me!"

"The Ladies of the Rogue are always dumping themselves on your lap, Marek." Alanna spoke innocently. "Are you calling them fat?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow as she stood, pulling Marek out of the chair and sitting in it herself. "Are you suggesting something about my nature, Alanna?"

Jon interrupted the red head's reply. "Well? How did you get into my supposedly secure war room?"

Marek finally answered Jon's question. "Why, I picked the lock, of course."

"Are you looking to get yourself hung?" Sarah laughed.

Abby had started almost bouncing up and down in place when it was made apparent that all of the Tortallans knew Marek. Now she finally broke her silence. "You all know him? And you aren't having him, I don't know, put in gallows or something? This is like Robin Hood and King Arthur mushed together… only cooler!"

Jon sent Sarah a long suffering look, to which the knight replied with a miniscule shrug. It wasn't _her_ fault the forensics expert was hyperactive. Jenny Shepard didn't share Abby's opinion. "So even the monarchy here is corrupt-"

Sarah cleared her throat pointedly, glaring at the woman. "Insult me if you want, but you insult my monarchs, you'll be looking for trouble. Don't think I'll just take it lying down."

"Your monarchs are in the presence of the King of Thieves-"

"King of the Rogue, lass." Marek corrected, a grin on his face. "We aint just thieves. Some of my boys extort on the side, and the Ladies of the Rogue just steal the men's hearts."

"Whatever you are, they're not doing anything to apprehend you. If a thief walked so brazenly into my office, he'd be in jail before the day was up." Shepard promised.

"And if he were fool enough to walk into the Provost's office, he'd be in irons within moments." Alanna promised. "But Marek here was a valuable ally growing up. As the King of the Rogues, he's helping the people of the Lower City survive. Those commonfolk that are too stubborn to seek financial help from the nobility, those that would rather die, they have no qualms about seeking aid from him and his kind. There will always be a Court of the Rogue, and Marek is one of the few people we all trust to run it fairly, with some semblance of law. If one of his less reputable Rogues were to oust him, violent crimes would probably increase dramatically."

"We can arrange accommodations for you where you won't be hassled by malcontents." Thayet promised sweetly, drawing a startled glance from the Director. "Perhaps the dungeon?"

"Accomodations?" Ducky asked the question on everyone's lips. "Why would we be needing accommodations? We aren't staying here for any measure of time, are we?"

"My knight needs rest." Jonathan explained evenly. "As such-"

"No, your knight doesn't." The objection didn't come from Shepard. It came from Sarah. "Your knight wants very much to find a way to kill Yahzed. I know, ambitious, but since it's your knight, or him, she wants very much to work on that. They don't need accommodations."

"You look half asleep on your feet." Alanna pointed out, crossing her arms against her chest. "We could force the issue."

At this, Mara stepped forward, eyebrows raised, surreptitiously standing in a fighting stance. Sarah shook her head, "She's only mothering me. I'm sure Leia would say the same if she had the ability to force me to rest when she thought I needed it."

"Leia would actually do it." Mara pointed out.

"So would Alanna." Sarah retorted, before standing to pace. "Alright, so we have a focusing opal-"

"So _that's_ what you commissioned Marek for." Numair rolled his eyes. "I already have three. Why didn't you just come to me?"

"Because I might need four." Sarah muttered, brushing her hair out of the way. "Besides which, I didn't want to presume that you'd let me use them."

Numair rolled his eyes again. "Of course I would. Now what was the rest of your plan? Did you have any spells in mind?"

Sarah winced. "Um…"

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"I can't believe she didn't even have a plan." DiNozzo shook his head in disgust as the boy that had been summoned to lead them to their 'accommodations' gestured to them all to follow. Mara had been left with Sarah, as the knight actually trusted the other redhead to supply a useful portion of the plan.

"Because you had a plan when you went to face Lavigne alone." Ziva muttered under her breath, but Tony heard.

"And look how _that_ turned out! If it weren't for-"

"If it weren't for Sarah, you would be dead by now." Ziva pointed out. "You should trust in her."

DiNozzo just sent her a dirty look, before speeding up to catch up to their guide. "Hey, kid. What do you know about her?"

The boy, Riley of Dunlath, a page in his final year, turned. "She's the reason I've come so far in my training. I would have given up after my first year here if she hadn't ordered me to attend dawn training sessions with her trainer."

"How many years have you got?" Abby asked.

"This is my last as a page. We spend four as a page, and four squiring to a knight. When that's done, we enter the Chamber of the Ordeal, and become knights of the realm." He explained.

"Have you got any knights lined up?" The forensics expert pressed.

"Not that I know of, but there's one that I'd like to squire to." Riley replied, uncomfortable. "They probably won't though."

"Who is it and why wouldn't they ask?" Abby didn't seem to realize the boy might be uncomfortable with all of the questioning.

"They're too busy. I can't imagine leading the life they live _and_ finding time to teach someone how to be such a shining representation of a knight for the King." Riley shook his head. "I don't expect they'll ask. Were I in their position, I probably wouldn't."

"So who is it?"

The boy just shook his head again and kept walking, before turning into another corridor. "This is the guest corridor. Sir Sarah of Greenstone's living quarters are in the next corridor. These quarters are actually the same quarters the members of the Special Victim's Unit stayed in when they were brought here by Mithros, God of War."

"Really? They came here?" Abby's eyes bugged out.

Riley froze. "Uh…"

"We weren't supposed to know that, were we?" Shepard intoned drolly. She'd investigated the occurrences around the Special Victim's Unit's cases at the time Sarah had admitted to being in that dimension. "It has something to do with the Carter case, doesn't it?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Director Shepard." Riley fell back on the unwritten part of the Code of Chivalry, the part that told nobles to keep their mouths shut.

"No one will hear it from us." Gibbs promised.

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"So anyone got any better ideas than mine?" Sarah asked, lounging in her seat, feet up on the table of the war room.

"And yours is…?" Mara asked snidely.

"Blast the bastard until he goes boom."

"Ah."

"And the children?" Thayet asked. "Are they still with Detective Stabler?"

Sarah's eyes widened, and she froze, a panicked look on her face. "We have to-"

"They're fine." Mara promised. "I can sense them."

Letting out a breath, Sarah sat down. "Either way, we still need to go back and grab them. And then I'm taking you and them back to Coruscant. You can keep them safer there than I can back on Earth. And I'd hate for them to get stuck in a world that isn't theirs if anything should happen to-"

"Sarah." Alanna interrupted sharply. "Stop being a defeatist."

"Either way, they need to be somewhere safe. And that's not with me anymore." Sarah shrugged off the admonishment.

"What makes you think I'm going to sit back and let you drop me and the kids off planetside while you're dealing with this psycho?" Mara pointed out.

"You can't stop me." She retorted. "All I have to do is touch you and the next thing you'll see are the skyscrapers and me transporting away." The red head narrowed her eyes, but didn't dispute the matter. She was an expert fighter, but it was incredibly hard to stop someone from touching you for just a second.

Jon sighed. "Alright. Take Alanna and Numair with you and pick up the children, and bring them back here. Take them back to Coruscant, and after that I must insist you get some rest. I'd be a fool not to see you're half asleep in your chair."

"I can pick up the kids myself." Sarah replied, annoyed at the fact he'd ordered her two friends to babysit her. "Yahzed is on the other side of the country."

"And he may be able to teleport." Jon countered. "Certainly, from what you've told us he is restricted to mortal actions, but then so are you. And you can teleport between locations, even dimensions. We must assume that he is possibly able to teleport, and didn't follow you so as to not attract the Goddess and Mithros' wrath, as this land is undeniably theirs."

Sarah just rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's do it now."

"Not just yet." Numair shook his head. "You need to write a detailed-"

"Will?" She interrupted brightly.

"No." The mage glared at her, and she sat back, alarmed. It took a lot to elicit a glare from _him_. "A detailed description of this night's events, so that we can minimize the time spent in that dimension. If he can teleport, there are several spells that can be used to locate another mage. The sooner we get out of there, the better."

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"Sarah!" Elliot frowned as she reappeared in the middle of the remnants of the barbeque. "Alanna? Numair?"

Sarah passed him the envelope with the entire story while pushing past him. "Are the kids upstairs?"

"Yeah, why?"

"They're going back to their home dimension. It's too dangerous here." She threw over her shoulder as she picked up the pace. By the time she reached the stairs, she was running.

"Sarah?" Kathy met her at the top of the stairs, having just left Elliot Jnr's room. "What's going on? Who are these people?"

"Ask Elliot. I've given him the whole story on paper. And the red head's Alanna, the tall lanky guy is Numair."

Alanna and Numair gave Kathy a nod each, and moved past her to follow Sarah to Dickie's room. The younger knight knelt by Jaina, shaking her by the shoulder. Alanna and Numair took Jacen and Anakin. "S-Sarah?" Jaina asked tiredly, yawning largely.

"Come on kiddo. We're taking you and your brothers back to Coruscant with your Aunt Mara."

"Why?" Jacen asked, scrambling to his feet and almost tripping over his bedding. Alanna caught him swiftly.

"Because it's too dangerous for you here." Sarah answered honestly. "Is there anything you absolutely need before we leave?"

Elliot bursting through the door, with Olivia hot on his heels, interrupted any response the children would make. "Sarah? What the hell is going on?!"

"Did you read the letter?" Sarah asked.

"The first three lines. The murderer's a _God_?" He looked gobsmacked.

"Yep. So we have to leave. Now."

"Wait-"

"Elliot. You'll be fine here, on the other side of the country, so long as we leave _now_. I'm only taking the kids because if for any reason something happens to me, I'd much rather they were in their home dimension, rather than here." Sarah explained, holding out her hand to Numair, who was already holding a sleepy Anakin's hand in his own. Alanna clasped a hand on her shoulder, and Sarah gathered her Gift.

"Wait-"

"Elliot, you'll be fine." Sarah promised.

"But what about you?" He asked.

She didn't answer as she transported away.

TBC…


	14. Chapter 14

Take 2! since ff. net doesn't seem to want me uploading links...

A/n. Hey guys, I've posted a link to the first scene of an episode of NCIS, this pretty much represents all of the characters (except Ducky who unfortunately doesn't appear in this scene) perfectly.

**www. youtube .com/watch?v=BBjqrxyMX8U**

Just get rid of the spaces!

Anyway, thanks for the reviews, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 14:

"So that's the situation Leia. I'm sorry I couldn't do more to protect your children from the danger, both in your dimension and on Earth. But I can't leave these guys to deal with Yahzed alone. Especially since he's only there because of me." Sarah's voice came through the communication diamond, sounding tired.

Leia exchanged a look with her brother. "I understand. You're all in Tortall now?"

"Yeah. Mara's just explaining everything to the kids. I'm going to drop them in your living quarters on Coruscant." The younger woman sighed. "So how's the pirate hunt going?"

It was Leia's turn to sigh. "Oh, Han's trying to navigate a new route through the maw."

"He's doing what through the what now?" The knight sounded confused.

"The maw is an area of space densely packed with black holes. One of his smuggler friends suggested the pirate's were based on an asteroid in the middle of the maw. Unfortunately, they've seeded every known route that we've tried so far with space mines, so Han's had the brilliant idea to try navigating the maw." Leia was rolling her eyes as she spoke.

"I might not know much about space and stuff…" Sarah began, voice disbelieving. "But that sounds stupid, even for Han."

"I'll be sure to pass that on." The Chief of State couldn't help the grin that crossed her face. It quickly faded, leaving a terse expression in its place. "Are you going to be able to handle this?"

Silence reigned on the other end of the communications. "I'll have Mara call you on the comm. when I've delivered her and the kids. Sarah out."

Leia opened her mouth to protest the younger woman hanging up on her, but Luke shook his head, silencing his sister. "This is her fight."

"The odds are impossible-"

"Some might say the Rebellion was up against impossible odds. A snubfighter, taking down the Death Star?" Luke's eyes twinkled. "She may not have the Force on her side, but she won't need it. You've just got to trust that she can do it."

"The difference between you taking down the Death Star, and her taking down a _God_, is that you believed you could do it. You heard her. She doesn't believe she can. Without that belief, she might as well throw herself on her sword."

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"What would you say if I told you we had four openings in our organization for fighter pilots?" Darius, the man that had translated the Rodian bartender's protests, offered smoothly. "Provided you're as good as you say you are, of course."

"Of course." Face rolled his eyes. "Provided we're interested in your offer."

"You can do more damage to this so called 'New _Republic_' as part of our team than by yourselves." Another pirate, one who had so far been eerily silent, leant forward eagerly. It was like he believed his words. "We can bring down them and their reign of tyranny-"

"Smythe. Shut it." Darius sent the man a stern look, and he shut his mouth.

"Wow. Because seven people are going to do so much more damage than four." Tyria smirked.

"Almost twice as much, in fact." Corran nodded seriously.

"There are more than just the three of us." Darius glared at Corran, who held up his hands in surrender. "We're a whole organization that the Republic doesn't even know about. And we've got a secret weapon. Something not even their precious Jedi can handle."

"What? A sense of humor?" Wes asked. "Cause you're making _me_ laugh."

The three pirates stood at the same time as the New Republic pilots, and they each drew weapons at almost the same time. "Four to three. We've got the upper hand." Face said dangerously. "So why don't you just put down your weapons, and we'll put down ours."

"You first."

Wes shook his head. "See, there you go making me laugh again. We won't ask you again."

"Look, we're just offering you a tryout to be a part of something bigger. There are hundreds of us-"

"Oooh, did ya hear that?" Tyria asked snidely. "Hundreds! They could take down a whole score of Republic snubfighters. Wow. Of course, when you consider just how many _scores_ of pilots the Republic has-"

"This is your chance to get in at the ground floor, friends." Darius interrupted, his voice almost hopeful. "We may be a relatively small organization now, but soon, soon we'll take down the New Republic. And you'll be glad you joined us."

Face gave him a measuring look. "Show us the trashcans you fly. Then we'll see about joining your little band."

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"Don't say it Han." Leia warned as she observed the clear space littered with asteroids through the viewport. "Don't you dare say it."

"Say what?" He asked innocently. Chewie chuffed a laugh.

"You know what."

"Hmm… could it be… I told you so?" The exsmuggler pretended to think about it carefully.

"Alright, fine. You were right about navigating the maw." She sighed in defeat.

"But if you didn't fight me every time I wanted to do something stupid, I wouldn't love you as much. And I'd probably be dead by now." He reminded her, twisting in his seat for a kiss. She grinned and leant forward. Any other actions were halted by an alarm sounding, and the ship shuddering. "Sithspawn!"

"We're under attack." Luke observed calmly, unbuckling his crashwebbing as he headed for the newly repaired gun turret. Leia was a step behind him.

"A half a squadron of headhunters?" Han's voice could be heard down the corridor, incredulous in its tone. "Where are the rest of them?"

"Maybe they don't realize who we are." Leia threw back over her shoulder. "A YT-1200 freighter would normally be easy pickings for a half squadron."

"Especially one as dilapidated as this one." Luke added from the gun turret, where he had his headset on.

"Hey!" Han protested. "I-"

"Let's just show them where they went wrong." Leia cut him off as she climbed the ladder into her gun turret. She strapped herself in before grabbing the controls. "I need a target Han."

"Working on it Princess."

The stars spun dizzyingly, and all of a sudden there was a headhunter in her sights. Leia didn't waste any time, swinging the turret around to fire off a quick shot, which partially collapsed the headhunter's shields. Her next shot pierced the pilot's canopy, and the snubfighter spun lazily away, as air leaked into the vacuum of space.

She heard the other turret firing, and Han confirmed kills on two of the fighters. "The others won't be so easy."

Leia tensed her grip on the trigger, waiting for Han to bring another fighter into her line of sight. Her view port spun to show a large asteroid fill half of her sight, and she almost pulled the trigger on the rock. The opportunity to shoot something arose when a headhunter darted into her line of vision. She traced its path with green laser beams, and clipped its starboard engine just as it left her sight.

"Negative on that one, sweetheart. He's still flying."

"Sithspit." Leia muttered.

Suddenly, a voice came over the comm. "New Republic vessel _Millennium Falcon_, you're outnumbered-"

"But not outgunned." Han interrupted the voice with a snarl. "Three and a half snubfighters will never be able to take down the _Falcon_." There was a pause, and Leia could almost see his shrug as he tried hopefully, "Surrender?"

The voice on the other end of the line was startled into a laugh. "You honestly think we're stupid enough to attack you with only six fighters? Check your sensors, Captain Solo."

There was the telltale click as Han turned external comm. off, before he checked the sensors. He muttered something under his breath, a curse, before switching the comm. back on. "Ah… this isn't Han Solo. This is his dashingly handsome twin brother… Dan Zolo. And this ship… is the, uh… _Millennium Hawkbat._ So you've really got no problem with us."

"Nice try Solo. Come peacefully – our leader wants your wife. If you don't, we'll blow you to bits."

Han swore again and threw the ship into a corkscrew. "How many have we got, Han?"

"Another two squadrons. So far there isn't anything bigger-"

"But that's just a matter of time." Luke finished for him. "I hate to say it Han, but-"

"I'm way ahead of you, Luke. We're outta here. We'll give Wedge our sensor readings and tell him about this base."

"I don't think this _is_ the base, Han." Luke replied. "Two squadrons of snubfighters? No where near enough firepower, considering how much we ran into when we were leaving the Firkan system, and that wasn't even their real base."

Han didn't have a reply, except to start dodging the bolts flying towards the ship. Leia took her shots when they appeared, but Han was maneuvering the ship too rapidly for her to get a lock on the fighters. The exsmuggler had turned the _Falcon_ around, back the way they had came. Now it was a race to get back on the right escape route before they were blown out of the sky.

The ship shuddered as a shot hit the deflector shields, and a warning klaxon sounded. After a moment the noise shut off, and Leia breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been worried about the source of the noise. "What was the warning for?"

"The hyperdrive-"

"_What_?" Leia snapped.

"Don't worry, I fixed it." Han scoffed.

"You fixed the hyperdrive from the cockpit?" Luke's voice was skeptical, and his question was punctuated by a shot from his gun turret.

"Uh…" Han's voice held a wince, and Leia cringed. "I meant I fixed the _klaxon_. We've got maybe one jump before I've got to do maintenance on the 'drive."

"Then make it count, Han." Leia ordered, and took a deep breath. She let the breath out in a sigh of relief as the star lines stretched, and they jumped to hyperspace, but her gut still churned. If Han didn't have the right equipment to fix the hyperdrive, they were still in serious trouble.

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"Nice spice haulers. I thought you were snubfighter pilots." Wes grinned, circling the Y-Wing/TIE fighter assembly the pirates flew. There was a reason they were known as 'Uglies'.

"Well what do _you_ fly?" Smythe bated.

Tyria was walking around one of the fighters slowly, running her hand along the fuselage. It was her job to plant the tracking device. She looked up, contempt in her eyes. "We fly Interceptors."

"How do you find the parts to repair them?" Darius asked pointedly. "Interceptor parts are rarer than X-Wing parts."

"Well, we try not to let the ships get damaged in the first place." Tyria gave the pirate leader a lazy look. "Barring that, well… there are still a lot of Imperials out there. Destroy enough of them and you're _bound_ to get the parts you need."

Face had been silent since they had entered the hangar containing the pirates' ships. Now he spoke up. "I don't think we'll be joining your merry little gang, if _this _is the quality of equipment we can expect. We're out of here."

Darius made a move to draw his weapon, but Face just laid his hand on the handgrip of his blaster and gave Darius a pointed look. The pirates backed down, and Face smirked, before leading the rest of the team out of the hangar bay.

They were all the way to their ship before Corran murmured to Wes, "They believed what they were saying. Smythe more than the other two. Most pirates I've come across just care about either the killing or the loot. These ones think the galaxy would be a better place without the New Republic."

"You know, Horn, that just creeps me out." Face muttered, shaking his head.

"Why? Lieutenant Sarkin's Force Sensitive." Corran pointed out. "Hasn't she ever-"

"No." Tyria cut the Jedi off sharply. "I've never. I'm not _that _strong in the Force. I can't even lift a pebble."

"Neither can I-"

"But you can do _other_ things, Horn. I can't." Tyria blurted, before sighing. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Corran reassured. "You planted the homing beacon?"

"Yessir." At this Tyria smirked. "And on the engine fuselage to hide any energy signatures."

"Good job, Lieutenant." Face gave her a nod. "Now let's get out of here."

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Sarah reappeared back in the warroom after dropping the Solo children and Mara Jade Skywalker back on Coruscant, in the Solos' apartment. With a sigh, she flopped back into her chair and closed her eyes.

"Go to bed, Sarah. You can worry about all this in the morning." Alanna prodded, poking her in the side.

"I can't go to sleep." Sarah murmured.

"Well you won't do any good-"

Sarah interrupted Thayet, opening her eyes and looking around. It was just Alanna, Daine, Numair, Thayet and Jon. People she'd known and trusted since she'd started her new life. "I can't go to sleep because every time I do I have nightmares. And these ones are worse than the ones I had after the Three Sorrows."

Alanna pursed her lips. "I meant what I said earlier. I can force the issue."

"Alanna, no." Sarah stood, running a hand through her hair. "Don't. It's hard enough waking up when I'm not under a spell."

"Come on." Alanna pulled her to her feet, and Thayet took her other side. "We'll get you into bed, and we'll stay, so if you _do_ start dreaming we can wake you right up."

Sarah pulled away. "No. I'm going to get started on the research now. I need to come up with a way to defeat a God, I don't have time to rest."

Alanna looked to Jon, who just shrugged. "You warned her."

"Wait, no-" Sarah began, eyes widening, but Alanna had already laid a purple hand on her. Sarah slumped into the redhead's waiting arms, and Numair quickly moved to help, hoisting her over a shoulder. The sight was almost comical as Alanna scowled at the much taller man, who shrugged as much as he could burdened as he was. Instead of stooping to make it easier for Alanna to help with his friend, he swept Sarah's feet off the floor, and started towards the young woman's rooms. Alanna just sighed, before following.

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Abby glanced around, a mischievous grin on her face as she carefully crept towards the door linking the joint living area with the outside corridor. Her hand was on the door knob when a throat cleared behind her. "What are you doing?"

Abby jumped up and spun, the grin never fading. "Come on! We're going exploring!"

"No we aren't." Ziva contradicted. "If we did, Gibbs would probably kill us."

"Oh, please. Gibbs loves me! You… well… just come on!" And with that, Abby had taken Ziva's hand, and was dragging her through the now open door.

"You aren't going to knock on every door until you find Sarah's accommodations, are you?" Ziva asked haphazardly as she allowed herself to be dragged along by the goth.

Abby sent her a dirty look. "Don't be stupid. She's probably still researching somewhere. I'll do _that_ in the morning."

There was a noise just around the corner. Abby crept forward, and Ziva sighed, following the eccentric woman. "We do not know who it is around the corner. We might be about to run into the queen, or perhaps the palace guards to take us to the stacks! We should go back."

"Shh! And it's 'stocks', not 'stacks'." And then Abby was around the corner. Ziva heard a gasp, and rushed to join her colleague. "Oh my God! What have they done to Sir Sarah?!"

Numair was holding Sarah while Alanna unlocked a door. Now the redhead turned to the source of the noise and rolled her eyes, before turning back to Numair and saying something. And then she was heading towards them. Abby gasped and turned. "Run!"

Ziva laughed and grabbed Abby's arm, preventing her escape. "Calm down Abby."

"Ziva, let me go! Come on, we've got to run!"

"No, we don't. Really, do you trust Sarah?" Ziva asked, struggling to keep the forensics expert from running.

"Yeah, and they've-"

"Sarah told me a bit about her life while we were on our way to rescue the children. She trusts Alanna more than anyone. Alanna has just forced her to rest." Ziva gave a nod to the redhead, who had finally reached them.

"And she's going to hate me for it in the morning." Alanna shook her head. "She's so Gods cursed stubborn, but at least this way I can watch over her and make sure she gets a proper, uninterrupted rest."

"She wanted to start research now, didn't she?" Ziva asked knowingly.

"You know her so well, and after such a short time." Alanna said drolly. "It's amazing."

"Well, she's not the hardest person to figure out."

"So you _didn't_ kill her?" Abby clarified.

"Yes. We killed her and were putting her in her bed." Alanna rolled her eyes, before gesturing back down the hall, the way they had come. "You should head back to your assigned quarters. There's no telling what's going to happen when Sarah gets up – you might be pulled into work."

"But I wanted to explore some more!" Abby protested, glancing around the redhead hopefully.

"Head back to your quarters." Alanna repeated evenly, staring the goth down.

"Or what, you'll magic us too?" She pushed, and Ziva sighed, grabbing Abby's arm once again, to drag her back to their quarters.

"I'm the King's Champion. That means my skills in combat are some of the best in the entire Kingdom. I don't _need_ magic." Alanna pointed out.

"Well Ziva used to be an _assassin._" Abby replied smugly, folding her arms against her chest.

"My husband is the former King of the Rogue." Alanna rolled her eyes, and gave them both a shove in the right direction. "That trumps all. Now go back before I get the palace guards to escort you."

That was all the redhead needed to say, as Abby scurried back to their quarters, dragging Ziva behind her.

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Sarah was flailing wildly in her sleep. Alanna launched herself from her chair, grabbing a hand before it struck her in the face, and pinning it against Sarah's side. Sarah's struggles seemed to double as she pinned her other hand to her side, and Alanna frowned. Sarah was right – these nightmares were nothing like the ordinary ones. Small whimpers fell from Sarah's lips, and Alanna took a deep breath, about to apply her magic to send Sarah deeper, and hopefully ward off the nightmares.

It didn't work. Alanna grimaced as Sarah's body stiffened, before the younger woman attempted to roll over and curl into a ball. Alanna let go of her arms cautiously, and they wrapped around Sarah's legs, even as she continued to whimper.

Without pause, Alanna used her Gift to wake Sarah, and the younger woman shot up, gasping, eyes wild and tearfilled. Alanna didn't wait for an invitation, engulfing her in a tight hug, murmuring softly in an attempt to calm her down.

Eventually Sarah's breathless gulps of air turned into quiet gasps. "I warned you." The woman's voice was hoarse, and she wouldn't meet Alanna's eyes. "George Huang and Elliot's wife both think I have rape trauma syndrome. Night terrors are a symptom."

Alanna was speechless. She'd never seen anyone suffer a nightmare so bad. "I… how… how will you get any rest, if that's what happens?"

Sarah shrugged and pulled away, lying back on the bed and turning onto her side, facing the other way. "Either I put up with the night terrors, or I wait until I collapse. I'm sure if I deprive my body of sleep -"

"Sarah." Alanna's voice was firm. "I am not letting you run yourself into the ground like that."

Sarah rolled back over and propped herself up with one hand, glaring at Alanna. "I'm already run into the ground. And every time I fall asleep, I get that little bit more tired. Right now the only thing keeping my eyes open is fear-"

"There has to be some other way that you can deal with it."

The younger woman let her arm give out, and she flopped back onto the mattress. "George would love the opportunity to shrink me, and I really can't be sure that's not a good idea." _I'm just too stubborn to let him._

"Well maybe you should." Alanna solicited. "I can't be worse than what you're going through now."

"It'll be humiliating-" Sarah began, but her mentor shook her head.

"You were assaulted because you went there to save their lives, and their planet. They won't think any less of you if you seek out help in dealing with the trauma caused by helping them. Either that, or you continue having nightmares for the rest of your life." The redhead shrugged, but the nonchalance was a mask behind which she hid a quiet fury. If she could, she'd make the White Martians suffer. Luckily for them, Sarah and the League had killed them all.

"It's a moot point." Sarah decided suddenly. "I still need to survive the fight with Yahzed before I can talk to George, and that's about as likely as snow in hell, so-"

"I'm going to come with you, to help." Alanna promised, with an expression Sarah recognized. It was Alanna's determined face. The fight with Yahzed would be easier than trying to dissuade her friend from coming. Of course, Sarah was going to try anyway.

"Um, no, you're not."

"Uh, yes, I am." Alanna responded in the same droll tone as Sarah.

"No, you're really not. And you don't have a choice in the matter, because _you_ can't teleport." Sarah pointed out churlishly, and Alanna pursed her lips.

"Let's not discuss this now-"

"Let's not discuss this _at all_." Sarah retorted, and Alanna narrowed her eyes.

"I'm going to go wake Duke Baird and see whether he has anything strong enough to keep the nightmares away. Now that I've seen how powerful they are, hopefully I'll be able to find something that will work. I want you to wait here and rest-"

"I'm not going back to sleep." The younger woman immediately replied, eyes widening a fraction.

"Did I say that? No. Just wait here and lie down, conserve your energy. I'll be back as soon as I can, and if I find something that I think will work, you _will_ be going back to sleep. Is that understood?" The redhead was daring her to argue.

Sarah sighed and nodded, before nestling down under the covers. "Yes, Alanna. That's crystal clear."

"I'll see you in a few minutes."

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A bleary eyed Duke Baird of Queenscove opened the door to his living quarters, a confused look on his face at the interruption of his rest. Alanna didn't waste any time explaining the situation to him, instead she stated, "I need the most powerful sleeping potion you have, and it has to block nightmares."

"Well good evening, Lady Alanna. May I invite you in for a cup of tea?" Baird asked teasingly, and Alanna shook her head, unamused.

"No. Do you have anything?" She pressed, and Baird frowned.

"Who is this for, my dear?"

"Sarah."

"And your teas are not sufficient?" His frown deepened.

"Not for these nightmares. Do you have something I can use?"

"In the infirmary, yes." The man walked out the door, and turned to lock it.

"You don't need to come with me, just tell me where-"

"I am going to come with you, and on the way you are going to explain to me exactly what's going on." He interrupted firmly. Alanna sighed, shaking her head, and moved to follow the man as he started towards the infirmary.

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Hands shook her, and Sarah sat upright, gasping. Alanna was sitting on the bed beside her, with Duke Baird hovering a few feet away. "I thought you weren't going to go back to sleep." Alanna commented evenly.

"I didn't mean to." Sarah glared at her. "I was tired."

"As you well have the right to be, my dear." Duke Baird soothed. He held a cup of tea in his hands. "Alanna explained your difficulties sleeping. I believe this will solve your problem, temporarily at least. Eventually you will need to deal with what is causing your problems."

Sarah took the tea cup with hands that shook so badly Alanna had to steady the fragile porcelain. "And if it isn't strong enough to block out the nightmares? I won't be able to wake up." She pointed out, trying hard to keep her voice impassive. It was one thing to show weakness in front of Alanna, one of her closest friends, but while Duke Baird was one of the King's most trusted advisors, Sarah just didn't know him well enough to let him see that side of her.

"Alanna and I can counter the effects of the tea if it comes to that." The gentle look he gave her made her want to hit him, hard. He seemed to recognize the look she gave him, and he answered with a grin. "Now don't give me that look. I know you learnt it from Alanna. I'll stop trying to handle you if you drink the tea."

"I'll have you know I had my own 'look' before I met Alanna." Sarah muttered churlishly, before bringing the cup to her mouth and taking a long swig of the contents. Alanna took it from her, and Sarah felt her eyes closing of their own accord. Two sets of hands settled her into her bed, and she let herself drift away to what she fervently hoped was going to be a dreamless sleep.

TBC…

OMG!!! An update, a mere week after I last updated!!! And I know where I'm going with the next chapter too! The chapter after that… well, we'll deal with that later.

Thanks for reading, now it's time to review!


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

The shuttle craft landed gently on the docking bay floors, and Wedge let out a sigh of relief. After sending Corran Horn, Wes Janson, Tyria Sarkin and Face Loran on the undercover mission, he'd reviewed his decision. What he'd realized had made him very, very worried. Corran and Tyria, one a Jedi, the other someone who had her Jedi dreams shattered by Luke Skywalker when he told her she just wasn't talented enough to become a Jedi. And Wes Janson, his former second in command of Wraith Squadron, and Face's superior officer, now the former actor was the commander of Wraith Squadron. And Wes was still second in command of Rogue Squadron, next to Tycho Celchu. Needless to say, even in the case of Tyria Sarkin, the testosterone levels were going to be high.

So he was incredibly relieved to see four pilots walking down the ramp to the shuttle, all of them still in one piece, all of them looking incredibly cocky. The same expression you'd see on any pilot's face after a successful mission.

As one they approached, saluting formally. "The mission was a success, General Antilles." Face reported, voice military crisp. "Sir, we await debriefing, sir."

He fought down the urge to roll his eyes and shake his head. Instead he returned the salute. "Very good, Captain Loran. But I believe Major Janson was your commanding officer on this mission, the debriefing is his responsibility."

"Yes sir, I know sir, but I thought you might like an entertaining debriefing, rather than the droll, boring debriefing you'd get from Major Janson. Sir." At this, Face grinned.

"Ahuh. Go and take off those ridiculous costumes. Debriefing in one hour."

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Mara looked around the Solos' apartment, taking in the newly fixed hole in the wall, and the mess the stun grenade had left behind. She didn't waste any time as she noticed the comm. unit on the wall, striding over to it and punching in a frequency and encryption code she knew from heart.

Jaina, Jacen and Anakin just watched as she waited for the other end of the line to connect. When it did, the face on the other end looked mildly curious to see who it was calling. "I was interested to see a communication coming from the Solos – I know for a fact they're gallivanting around the galaxy, looking for pirates. What are you doing in their apartment, Mara?"

She shrugged. "Is it so unusual for me to be in my sister-in-law's apartment, Karrde?"

"It is when your husband's with the Solos." He retorted.

"That's pretty fresh information you have there. I don't suppose you know anything about the pirate group they're after?" She prodded.

"Do you think I'll just give up the information for nothing?" As usual his face was impassive and difficult to read. If she hadn't been his second-in-command for years, she wouldn't have been able to tell he was just putting on an act.

"For old times sake."

"Very well. But not over the comm. I'll be there in ten hours. I'm assuming you'd like to follow your beloved Jedi?"

At this, Mara scowled, even as she heard the children giggle lightly in the background. She heard Dankin and H'sishi laughing, the former a chortle and the latter a hissing chuckle. "Shut it, Dankin, H'sishi. And while I'd love to, Karrde, I've got a situation of my own that needs taking care of."

"Oh?" It was obvious he wanted her to elaborate on her current situation.

"I won't tell you over secure channels." She shot back. "You'll have to wait until you get here."

At this, his mouth quirked into a very small smile.

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Wes was just scraping the last of the red paint off of his face when his comm. unit sounded. Frowning, he glanced up at the other two pilots in the men's refreshers. Both of their comms had activated at the same time.

Wedge's voice came through the system, sounding tinny in the transmission. "The debriefing will have to wait until later. The homing device is moving – you have five minutes to get to the briefing."

Eyes widening almost comically, Wes gave his face another quick once over with a cloth that was already covered in the red paint, and ran out the door, closely followed by Face and Corran. They saw Tyria rushing out of the women's refreshers.

_Five minutes?!_ He thought to himself. _This is payback for that prank I played on Wedge last week. Five minutes to travel a klick to the very end of the ship? This is war!_

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Kell looked up when the four pilots entered the briefing room, panting heavily. He glanced at the chrono on the wall, and had to fight the urge to smirk. Face was late to a briefing. Then he looked again, a closer look at Major Wes Janson, and he lost the fight. "Nice horns, Janson."

The man frowned, hands reaching to the top of his head. "Horns- damnit!" He turned to walk out the door, but General Antilles cleared his throat.

"Later, Janson. Take a seat."

Grumbling, he and Corran Horn made their way to where the Rogues were sitting. Janson slumped in his chair, a sour look on his face. Hobbie Klivian yanked on the horns, eliciting a cry of pain from the Major. The solvent for the special glue hadn't been applied yet – the horns were there to stay, for the time being.

Tyria and Face sat with the rest of Wraith Squadron, the woman sitting next to Kell, a hand on his knee as she gave him a reassuring glance. The mission had gone off without a hitch.

As soon as everyone was seated, Wedge cleared his throat again. "Alright. It seems the joint efforts of Rogues Nine and Five, and Wraiths One and Ten have borne fruit. The tracking device Wraith Ten placed on the snubfighters have shown movement, so the plan's gone into phase two. Wraith and Rogue Squadrons will be taking it in shifts tracking them up close, while the rest of the battle group follows at a distance, to avoid detection. The shifts will be two flights each, rotating in eight hour tracking shifts. The other four flights will operate under the active duty regulations. When your shifts are over you'll return to the _Mon Remonda_, while the next shift takes over for you. When we have confirmation on their base, the rest of the group will move in."

Tycho Celchu, Rogue Leader, raised a hand. "So will the shifts comprise of two Rogue flights, two Wraith flights, and a composite?"

"No, they'll be three composite groups. So you'll have to work together." At this, Wedge shook his head ruefully. "I know, it's not the best of plans. More details have been transmitted to your datapads. Rogue Flight One, Wraith Flight Two, as none of your members have been on a recent infiltration mission, you're the first shift. You leave in three hours. Dismissed."

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"How's that look?" Han called from under the hyperdrive.

Leia sighed, glancing display she was monitoring. "The same as it did the last three times. No response."

"Sithspawn." The man muttered, pushing out from under the unit and standing. For good measure, he gave it a kick.

Suddenly the display lit up with efficiency indicators and a very promising green light. Leia looked at Han, her eyebrows raised. He just threw her a lopsided grin and bound past her, towards the cockpit. "Fire her up, Chewie!"

Sighing, Leia followed at a more sedate pace. One day she was going to stop being shocked at the tendency for percussive maintenance to work where proper repair tactics would not, at least where the _Falcon_ was concerned.

"You doubted me." Han commented smugly from the pilot's chair.

"I wouldn't dream of it, dear." Leia intoned, rolling her eyes at the Wookie in the copilot's chair. Chewie just wuffed a laugh and muttered to himself in his native tongue.

"You would." Han sighed, waxing on melancholic. "But that's alright. Now we can deliver our sensor data to Wedge."

"Why can't we just transmit it?" Luke asked as he took his seat next to Leia.

"That last jump fried the navi computer. We had to cannibalize the hypercomm to get it working again. We can still transmit over the holonet, but we haven't got a means for secure transmissions." Han explained.

"Really, what did you expect?" Leia added playfully, sharing a grin with her brother.

"Hey!" Han turned in his seat as Chewie pointed them in the right direction. "You got a problem with the _Falcon_, your highnessness?"

"Not at all, nerf herder." She replied sweetly. "I'm just surprised we get where we're going half the time."

"Just call the apartment and see whether Mara and the kids are still there." He ordered, exasperated.

Leia hid her grin as she did as she was asked, unbuckling her crashwebbing and heading for the entertainment area and the holonet console it housed.

She dialed the frequency by heart, and frowned as it failed to make connection. She tried again, rekeying the number, her frown deepening when it failed to connect again. Leia ran a diagnostic on the system, and when it came back as functioning, she rekeyed the frequency a third time.

This time, the answer was almost instantaneous. "Ma?" Anakin's face popped up on the screen, and Leia couldn't help the relieved smile that graced her face.

"It's me, sweetheart. Are your brother and sister with you?" Before she'd finished asking the question, the other two children popped up on either side of their brother. "Are you three alright?"

Three nods, before Jaina blurted excitedly, "Aunt Mara called Uncle Karrde – we're coming to find you!"

The smile on Leia's face froze. "Get your Aunt Mara for me, would you sweetie?"

When the redhead appeared on the screen, her hands were already held up in her own defence. "We need somewhere to hide that isn't your very well known apartment, and Karrde's the safest person I know and trust that isn't already hunting down the pirates." She said practically. Leia pursed her lips, so Mara said the one thing that would give her pause. "And he has information about the pirates."

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Sarah awoke slowly, with a groan. Somehow Duke Baird's tea had managed to put her out _and_ stop the nightmares, and Sarah had finally gotten a good night's sleep. Of course, the sacrifice was a fuzziness in her head that made it difficult to think. When she glanced around, she noticed Alanna slumped in her desk chair beside the bed, fast asleep.

Tempted to go back to sleep, Sarah had almost closed her eyes when a flash of light made her jerk awake. Mithros stood in the middle of her living quarters, an unusual expression on his face. Instead of the usual arrogance, he looked almost worried. It was this, and not his unexpected appearance, that had her pushing herself into a sitting position, knees tucked up under her chin. "What are you doing here? I thought your interference in this matter was against the rules."

"It is true I cannot interfere with my brother while he is in the mortal's body. But that realm is my own – I share it with my sister, your patron. I can do what I wish with the progression of time." At this, a slight smile appeared on his face, and Sarah frowned.

"What do you mean?"

The tone of voice that he used reminded her of the way he normally spoke to her. Like she was simple. "I have stopped time, Messenger. You are not to proceed with any plans you may or may not have made, nor any preparations until I have spoken with my parents."

"But why not?" Her frown deepened. "I get that you're trying to get Yahzed in trouble, but why can't I _start_ getting ready for the big show down _now_, in case you can't convince the parentals to ground your brother without television privileges?"

"Because if it appears that you are 'getting ready for the big show down', my parents may decide that it would be sporting to let you take care of your _own_ problems. They may forbid my interference until _after_ you've had your little 'show down'." Mithros explained patiently. "Go about your normal life. I will contact you when I have an answer, either way." And with that, he disappeared with a booming crack that startled Alanna awake.

"Sarah?" The woman asked blearily.

"We just had a visit from Mithros." Sarah stared at the spot he'd been standing, bewildered. "Apparently he's going to get a second opinion on the Great Mother's noninterference verdict. Until then I'm to act as though nothing's wrong and go about my 'normal' life, because apparently if I follow the boyscout's creed of 'always be prepared' then Mother Flame and Father Universe might decide to let me take a crack at Yahzed _before_ they let Mithros deal with him." She glanced at Alanna for the first time, confusion still on her face. "He was almost… _nice_."

Alanna's eyebrows shot up. "So perhaps things aren't as dire as they seem?"

"Alanna, you weren't listening. Mithros was being _nice_." Sarah insisted, determined to prove her point. "Things have to be more… dire… er… than they seem for him to even pretend to give a rats about my personal wellbeing. He's made it clear on more than one occasion that my life is his to toy with, that he doesn't care what happens to me on my missions. So for him to pretty much tell me to stay here where it's safe-"

"You're being pessimistic again." The redhead interrupted.

"Alanna, the Goddess wouldn't just give up on me. She probably knew something Mithros didn't, and Mithros' request to his parent is going to be a fool's errand." Sarah retorted, before swinging her legs over the side of the bed, stretching.

"_Or_, Mithros knows something the Goddess doesn't, and everything will be okay." Alanna corrected patiently. "Now do you want to get some more sleep, or-" The younger woman interrupted her question by standing and walking into the wardrobe. "I guess that answers _that_ question. Where are you going?"

"To do my hostly duties and make sure my guests have got everything they need." Sarah shrugged. "They're going to be staying for at least a couple of days. Or at least, that was the impression I got from Mithros." When Sarah was dressed she nodded to Alanna, who followed her out of the door. "Where did we put the NCIS crew?"

"In the same quarters as the detectives were when they stayed here."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Apt."

When they reached the door, Sarah knocked loudly. There was a murmur on the other side of the door, and a voice called, "Who is it?"

"The palace guards. We're here to take you to the stocks for being out of your quarters past curfew." Alanna replied in a deep voice, and Sarah raised an eyebrow. The other one went up when they heard a small shriek – sounding suspiciously like Abby – from inside the rooms, and a shuffle.

Before they knew it the door was open, and Director Jenny Shepard was standing there, a small smile on her face. That alone put Sarah on guard. "Um… why are you smiling? Did someone drown some kittens, or did you cancel your appointment with satan so you could play a round of kick the baby?"

Alanna stared at Sarah, openly shocked by her words, but Shepard merely smiled. "I see someone's in a better mood this morning. And I thought you didn't like me – really, you had me worried."

"Yeah, well, this is what a full night's sleep does to me."

"I'd hate to see you after a week off."

"It's just as well Yahzed started killing people before my holiday then, isn't it?" Sarah pushed her way past the Director of NCIS. "I need to know what you all need."

"Need in the sense of _what_, exactly?" Ducky asked guardedly.

"In the sense of a prolonged stay in a 'medieval' type world. There aren't any handbooks on adjusting, so what would make your stay here easier?" She replied seriously.

"Just how 'prolonged'-"

Sarah interrupted Shepard. "Prolonged enough that you'll need at least a change of clothes or two, a crash course in etiquette, and something to occupy your time so you're not bothering me."

Abby frowned. "Why would we bother-"

"Maybe not Ziva and Gibbs. But I doubt either of them really want to be hanging around with me all day, they'd get fairly bored." Sarah shrugged. "I'm to go about my normal business until Mithros either gives the all clear, or tells me to suck it up and march to my death like a good Messenger." Her voice was brusque, and brooked no nonsense, but Abby made to protest anyway. Holding up a hand, Sarah silenced her. But she was unable to silence Alanna.

"That's enough, Sarah." The King's Champion snapped, spinning her around. "There is no way in the name of the Mother herself that I'm letting you face a God by yourself, and if you think Numair will either, then you don't know him as well as you think. So you better start believing we can win, or you'll be condemning us both to death with you."

Sarah stared at one of her closest friends for a long moment, before laughing. "Right. You reckon I'll take you, a woman with three children and a loving husband, not to mention the _King's Champion_, and one of my monarch's most trusted advisors, as well as a man with a wife who adores him, a small child that needs him and another on the way, who _also_ happens to be one of the King's most trusted advisors, to face a pissed off God. You're nuts."

Alanna glared, and grabbed Sarah forcibly by the arm. "Come on."

"Where are we going now? I need to get this lot sorted out-"

"We're going to the training fields. I'm going to beat that opinion out of you."

"So just another typical day? Mithros would be so happy." Sarah muttered dryly as she was dragged through the door.

The NCIS agents took one look at the pair and hurried to follow them.

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"I'm not entirely certain what this is going to achieve, Alanna." Sarah sighed in resignation. She was holding a training sword in a forward grip, guarding against the imminent attack that was going to come from the redhead.

"My sentiments exactly. You know, I've never believed violence to be the answer-"

Alanna cut Ducky off before he could start rambling. "She needs to get it through her head that as her teacher and her friend I won't let her face this alone. And if I have to beat the fact that I'm stronger than her-"

"Only in swordwork and magecraft." Sarah muttered churlishly. "I can throw you around the room in hand-to-hand."

"I have more control than you, in any form of combat." Alanna returned curtly. "Control that only comes from years of experience. Something you don't have yet, but something you'll need. So shut it."

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose, before returning her grip to the practice sword. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

When Alanna moved, it took Sarah by surprise. "You've held back when sparring me recently." She observed as she parried, returning the strike with a slice of her own.

"You've slowed down." The redhead retorted. "Might have something to do with the hole in your shoulder." She blocked Sarah's strike and brought her practice sword up to bear against her opponent.

"Or I could just be out of practice." Sarah grunted out, straining against the same technique that had brought about her forced forfeit to her match against Mara the night before. It seemed like much, _much_ longer since their battle with mop sticks.

Sarah didn't notice the NCIS agents watching the struggle closely, nor did she notice the two figures slip into the training gallery. She was focused completely on the fight, bearing down on Alanna with her superior height. The redhead's move had her slightly confused – why would someone with such an obvious disadvantage in close quarters bring her blade to bear on Sarah's, when it so often led to defeat?

Her answer came when Alanna used her superior upperbody strength to hold Sarah's practice blade off long enough to elbow Sarah in the stomach, and bring her fist up from the blow to knock her on the chin. Sarah staggered back, keeping her hands on the hilt of the sword no matter how much they wanted to clutch at her stomach and aching chin. "Jeez, 'lanna!"

"You're a Shang in training." A sharp voice came from behind her. "Just because most Tortallan knights wouldn't resort to underhanded tactics on the field of battle, doesn't mean you shouldn't expect it at every turn."

Another voice was snickering, and Sarah's eyes narrowed. "Riley, don't tempt me. I'm not in the mood to go easy on you, kid. So don't tempt me." With that, she threw down her practice sword, shaking her head. "This is pointless-"

A kick to the back of her shoulder interrupted her protest, and she pitched forward, rolling briefly before scrambling to her feet in a crouch. "Hey! That's enough-" DiNozzo began, but a quick glare from Wildcat shut him up.

The Director wasn't so easily intimidated. "You can't just attack someone in a sparring match without giving them any warning. Or is that how things are done around here-"

"No, it's not how things are done around here." Sarah answered, glaring at the both of them. "It's how Wildcat does things, and normally I'm game for a good bout of _proper _sparring, but right now I'm not in the mood. I'm serious, 'Cat. Don't try my patience."

"Or you'll… what?" The Shang mocked.

Sarah shot her a venomous look, before storming out of the training room.

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Ziva watched, eyebrows raised as Sarah stormed out of the room, a dark expression on her face. Without waiting, she stood. Not to follow the young knight, but to head down to the floor, a small smile on her face. "Well, if Sarah is not willing to spar-"

"Not now, Ziva." Gibbs warned.

"And why not, Gibbs?" She asked, shrugging off the jacket she had been wearing since the night before. "I am getting restless-"

"Let her do it, boss, you know what she gets like when she gets restless." DiNozzo pleaded. "_Please_."

"I'll be fine, Gibbs." Ziva promised, but her eyes were on Wildcat. "You know me."

"And you've seen Sarah fight. If this woman is her trainer-"

"Then it'll make for a good match." She let a small smile cross her face, but it soon disappeared as the older woman shook her head.

"I spar against Sarah because she is my student and I know she can handle it. I don't know you. If you want to spar against me, you've got to spar against the boy first." Wildcat jerked her head in Riley's direction.

Ziva's eyes widened. The boy was trying to look as unimposing as possible, eyes on the ground, shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets. "I couldn't do that to the boy."

"Then come along, boy." The Shang's voice was brusque. "If Sarah's going to be a cry baby then we'll have a proper training session outside."

"Shouldn't he have classes or something?" DiNozzo asked with a frown.

"It's Sunday. Pages get Sundays off."

"So why are you training with her on your day off?" He directed this question towards the Page, who glanced upwards, and shrugged.

"Sir Sarah ordered me to train with Master Wildcat in my spare time when she was knighted, to make sure I was strong enough to defend myself." He shrugged again. "That was about three years ago. I guess the training regimen stuck."

"So you don't have any free time?" DiNozzo screwed up his face in disgust. "_Voluntarily_?"

"Sarah's one of the greatest knights this country has ever seen, and she got to be that way in only _six_ _months_ because she could count the number of days off she had on one hand." Riley boasted proudly. "What better training regimen could there be?"

Everyone stopped to stare at the boy, and he blushed bright red, looking down. He'd forgotten his shyness. Wildcat stared at him for a long moment before pushing him towards the door. "Out!"

"Huh?"

"Sarah doesn't follow that training regimen anymore. And the only reason she never took a break was because the one day she tried she was almost mugged in the Lower City. You're a boy, a very dedicated boy nonetheless, but you're still young. And you've got another few years before you need to think about what kind of knight you're going to be. It's about time you had a break. I've been working you too hard." As she spoke, Wildcat was pushing him towards the door. With her final statement, she shoved him out, and shut it behind him.

"You wouldn't have treated a Shang in training that way." Alanna observed evenly.

"The boy's not a Shang."

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Sarah dumped the pile of breeches on the dining table in her guests' shared living quarters, and signaled the Rider's quartermaster's assistant to do the same with his pile of tunic shirts. He unclipped a bag with assorted undergarments from the belt around his waist and placed them next to the two piles.

"Thank you." Sarah passed a coin over for his troubles, not bothering to check the color before turning her back to him as she began to sort the piles into smaller stacks, one for each of the visitors. The assistant didn't waste any time letting himself out of the rooms with a hasty bow, almost running. Someone had started a nasty rumor that Sarah had lost the favor of the Gods, due to her direct opposition to Yahzed. She suspected the clerk of the magical stores. He'd always had it out for her.

As a result, everyone she'd seen since she left the training room had hugged the walls as she passed. Kuri Tailor, the quartermaster and a good friend of Daine's, had to threaten her assistant's job to get him to help Sarah with the clothes. Now the job had been done, and he wasn't wasting any time in his escape.

"Moron." She muttered under her breath when she heard the door close, and finished the job of arranging her guests' clothes. Three pairs of pants for each of the men, two pairs and a skirt for the women, and tunic shirts to complete the ensemble. Kuri Tailor had looked almost ready to kill Sarah when she asked for enough clothes for seven people for a few days.

With that job done, Sarah looked around the room, wondering what else she could do to make her guests' stay more comfortable. _After all, they're probably going to be here for a while. _She was being optimistic when she said they'd need enough clothes for a few days – it was more like a few decades, in the case of Ducky, at least, longer for the younger visitors, in the case of Sarah's death. Because there was no way in hell she was going to take them with her when she tried to deal with Yahzed.

_I suppose I'd better find something to keep them occupied. Ducky, Abby and McGee should be satisfied with a few books. I'll draw up a map to the nearest training rooms for Ziva, even _if _she has a good sense of direction and a good memory. That just leaves Gibbs, Shepard and DiNozzo._ Sarah sighed as she made her way over to the window, looking down at the view of the Lower City as it swept towards the river that sparkled in the brilliant spring sunshine. _I have no idea what'll amuse Gibbs and Shepard, and television doesn't exist here so DiNozzo's going to have a hard time adjusting…_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door behind her opening, and she stiffened, thinking they'd come back early. She didn't want to speak with anyone, at least until they'd forgotten her little spat in the training rooms. Sarah sighed, shaking her head slightly at her own foolish cowardice, and turned, expecting to see seven earthlings with contempt on their faces. Instead, she just found one, and the expression on his face was far from contemptuous.

"Oh, hello Miss Gibson. It's rather hot for a spring day, isn't it?" He bustled into the room, a small smile on his face. "It reminds me of the time when I was-"

Having heard from Ziva how Ducky had a tendency to ramble when he was allowed to, she cut him off. "Spring normally isn't this warm. But the sun's ferocity is directly linked to Mithros – he's the God of War, Justice, and it's said the sun is his embodiment in everyday life. He's understandably angry, seeing as his brother wants to kill his Messenger-"

"Actually, I don't believe that to be the case. You see, when we were making our escape, he said he wanted to 'break Mithros' little toy'. That could mean death, certainly, but I believe it is more likely that he wants to drive you… insane." He finished with a grimace. "I understand if that's not too reassuring."

She let out an uncontrolled laugh. "Thank you, Doctor Mallard."

He noticed the piles of clothing on the table, and a genuine smile crossed his face. "Ah, very nice Miss Gibson. But I have asked you to call me Ducky."

"And I've asked you to call me Sarah." She retorted gently.

"Where did you get our sizes?"

"I guessed. So you may need to get them taken in or let out, but I'll draw you a map on how to get to the tailors. And when I find time I'll get you an appointment at the best seamstress in the city, so you can all have a proper wardrobe made up."

"But why would we need a proper wardrobe made up?" He asked, but the look on his face showed more knowledge than he was letting on.

Sarah sighed. "Do you honestly expect me to be able to beat Yahzed?"

"Even if you can't, do you honestly expect any of us to let you go alone?"

"And you think I'll let you come with me? If I die, and you're all there, he's going to 'kill the insects'. You're better off alive here than dead there." She smiled softly. "And it's not too bad here, when you get used to it."

"You seem to have made quite the life for yourself. How long have you been here for?"

"Three and a half years. Three and a half fabulous years." Her smile turned into an evil grin. "And now I'm going to go see a certain clerk about a certain rumor he started last night."

"Would that rumor be the cause of my mistreatment in the halls? It was as though I had the Plague, but don't use that metaphor around Tony." He shook his head ruefully. "The poor man's _had_ the Plague."

Sarah blinked, before shrugging. She'd had the Ebola virus, why should it come as a shock that she knew someone who'd had the Plague? Shaking her head, she focused on the question Ducky had posed. "Yeah, that would be the rumor that had everyone hugging the walls. Apparently I've lost the favor of the Gods, and from the way people are acting, it's contagious."

"Why, that's just foolish, you're their Messenger-"

"And there's one that's trying to kill me." She interrupted.

He opened his mouth to speak, before hesitating, walking over to the window. "It really is beautiful here."

"I know." She joined him at the sill, staring at the landscape with unseeing eyes.

Ducky cleared his throat, and she glanced up to meet his eyes. "You could stay. You protected us from Theodore when you brought us here. You'd be safe as well."

"You'd be happy with a life here?"

"It would be an adjustment, certainly, but I know the others would understand if you were unwilling to face almost certain death just so we could go home." He assured, voice kindly. "I've seen what that monster can do to people, Sarah. I haven't known you for very long, but I can already tell that your death would be a tragedy."

"And what of everyone in that dimension?" She pushed away from the window, turning through the door. "Eventually Yahzed will get sick of waiting, and start killing. Or we'll get back to find he's taken over the world or something. Thanks for the concern, Ducky, but I can't. I've got to try, no matter the consequences." With that, she walked out the door.

TBC…

A/n. I am sooooooooooooo sorry for the very long wait for the update. This chapter really didn't want to come together. More specifically, the star wars part didn't want to. Also… BLAME MY AUNTIE!

She introduced me to an awesome series, and I watched 4 seasons in about a week and a half. The new Doctor Who is soooo good. Like, incredible. It's not for everyone, but if you like my writing I daresay you'll like Doctor Who. Cause it is soooo much better than my writing.

So blame her, cause I was distracted. And don't want to take responsibility for my own slackness...

Either way, I've seen all the Doctor Who's now, so I don't have that excuse anymore…

Anyway, please review!


	16. Chapter 16

A/n. I only have the vaguest ideas about how a gun works, so excuse me if I've messed it up later in this chapter. It really isn't crucial to the storyline, but I wanted to put this bit in there. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 16:

Sarah had been leaning against the fence to the training yards that faced the stables, staring through the solid wood door and into the space beyond when McGee found her. She'd been contemplating whether it would be worth purchasing a new horse, to replace Topaz, who had been killed a month prior in an attempt on her life during a tilt.

She shook herself out of her reverie as she turned to face the junior field agent, who looked positively terrified at being out and about alone in the foreign land. "Um, your friend Numair asked me to fetch you. He- he said something about finding a way to defeat Yahzed with Gibbs' gun? Gibbs wants you to vouch that Numair won't do anything stupid before he hands his weapon over."

Sarah blinked at the man, her mind going blank at the shock of his statement. Finally, she recovered enough to snap, "_What?"_

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"I won't damage the weapon, I promise. Can I at least examine it?" The Black Robe mage asked, exasperated.

Gibbs sent him a look that told him just how stupid that question was, before removing the clip and passing over a single bullet. "You can examine _that_."

Numair stared at the projectile, eyes wide. "_This_? _This_ is the bolt you use in your guns?"

"We call them bullets." Ziva explained, a smug grin on her face. That she was able to correct someone about the proper term in English was very unusual, and she reveled in the moment. "They travel at speeds greater than that of sound, and some bullets, fired from certain guns, can travel _through_ a body."

His eyebrows rose higher as he reevaluated the small piece of metal. "How is it fired?"

"Gunpowder ignites in the chamber, and the propulsion from the ignition drives the bullet forward at very high speeds." Abby answered the question, hoping that if she answered his questions about the weapon, he'd answer her's… and she was bound to have many, many more.

A sparkle appeared in his eyes. "Ignition, you say?" Numair shooed them back while he cleared off his desk, placing papers and books on the ground of his already crowded workroom. "Let me try something…"

Eyes wide, Abby stepped forward, hand outstretched. "No, wait-"

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Sarah and McGee arrived just in time to smell the remnants of smoke. The first thing they noticed as they walked through the door to Numair's workroom was the singed desktop. Sarah raised an eyebrow in a valiant attempt to keep a straight face as she met his innocent gaze. "Where'd your eyebrows go?"

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"I really wish you had followed our guests' advice against experimenting with their ammunition." Jonathan sighed, taking in his chief mage's appearance with a straight face. "What are you going to do at the banquet tomorrow night? It's the Spring Solstice."

"He'll have to paint them on like all the proper 'ladies' do." Sarah retorted, before her eyebrows snapped together. "Wait a minute. What banquet? It's not the Solstice already, is it?" Without waiting for an answer, she shook her head. "I'm going to teach our visitors how to ride a horse and take them on a day trip, alright? We'll leave tomorrow at noon; that should get us back at… maybe the next morning?" They were in the King's sitting room, where Sarah was the only person sitting. In fact, she had her feet up on the small coffee table as she lounged comfortably in the plush chair.

Jon pushed her feet off of the table as he responded. "Your guests may enjoy a banquet, Sarah. You wouldn't want to be a bad host, would you?"

"I can assure you that they won't." She could assure no such thing, but she didn't want to run the risk of actually asking them. Unfortunately, Jon had other ideas.

"Surely you don't know them well enough yet to know that. Go ask them."

"But Jon…" She whined.

"Would it hurt to ask, if you know they won't be interested?" He pressed, and Sarah winced. She'd lied her way into _that_ corner.

"Fine. I'll ask. But regardless of whether they want to go or not, _I'm_ not going. I'm on holidays, remember?"

"You have a funny way of spending your holidays." The King retorted, before his face turned serious. "And for the time being, your holidays are suspended."

Numair had been watching the exchange, amused, until that last statement. "I'm sorry, _what_?"

Sarah was just staring at her King, wondering what the hell had gotten into him. When she spoke, her voice was icy. "I'm sure that was your attempt at humour. I'm sure you didn't just tell me my time off is suspended."

"I'm afraid I did, my dear." Jonathan looked almost uncertain as Numair's face darkened in anger. Sarah's remained emotionless, but that was perhaps worse. "And in two days time I'm sending you on a border patrol."

The look of anger on Numair's face disappeared, replaced with knowledge. The anger reappeared on Sarah's face. "You can't do that! Yahzed-"

"That dimension will have to take care of itself for once." Jon interrupted calmly. "You're needed here."

"I'm not going on a border patrol, _Your Majesty_." Sarah replied venomously.

"Then I'll have you brought up on charges of treason and imprisoned until such time that you're willing to follow orders." The man replied, voice still infuriatingly calm.

"Try it, Jon." She stood nose to nose with him, staring him down.

"If I have to, I will. And I'll order Numair and Alanna to carry it out."

Sarah backed down first, turning away. "I can't just leave them to deal with Yahzed by themselves! They can't handle it. What about Casey, Elliot, the rest of them? I'm supposed to just leave them to die?"

"Sarah-" This was Numair, but she cut him off sharply with a hand held up.

"What, Jon, I'm only allowed to die on Tortallan business? If it doesn't happen here, it's not important enough to commit _your knight_ to, is that it?" She was yelling now. "I think you forgot, _Majesty_, that I was sent here to train in my role as the Messenger, and became a knight as a result of _that._ It's my duty to deal with Yahzed-"

"I haven't forgotten, Sarah." Jonathan finally backed down, taking a seat and slumping in his chair. "I'd just rather you didn't die _at all_. I'm just trying to protect you."

"Everybody dies, Jon. The only difference is the why. And I think we all know my 'why' was never going to be old age." Sarah shook her head ruefully. "I'm not going on the border patrol."

"I know. And I'm sorry for trying to force the issue." He returned. "But we all care about you. If I have to order you to go on a border patrol to make sure you don't try and face Scanra's patron God by yourself, then I will. But I should have known it wouldn't work with you." He scrubbed his face tiredly. "You would have a much better chance at retiring if you were simply a knight of this kingdom, and not the Messenger of the Gods."

"Oh, please. Me? Retire? I'll be fighting until the very last." She'd calmed down significantly by now, and she settled back into her seat, wondering idly how it was she managed to get away with yelling at her king. She gave a mental shrug and put it down to the stress of the situation and the fact that he wasn't an ordinary king.

Numair, who had watched the entire trade off silently, wisely staying out of it, chose this moment to speak. "But your holidays are still suspended until this matter is resolved." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. "Providing Jonathan agrees, of course, I don't believe it acceptable that your holidays are spent hunting down a rogue murderer, rescuing the three Solo children, and hiding from a God."

"And that means, since you aren't on holidays," Jonathan began with a wicked grin. "That I can order you to attend the banquet tomorrow."

The grin that had been growing on Sarah's face disappeared, and she buried her face in her hands.

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"The only way that I'm getting out of this banquet is if you all say you don't want to come, and then I might, _might_ be able to claim that as your host it would be inappropriate for me to attend without you. Since you're not Tortallan citizens, he can't order your appearance at the banquet." Sarah explained. She was sitting in their quarters, trying to keep the pleading expression off of her face and out of her voice. It wasn't working.

"But, but, Sarah!" This was Abby. "I really, really, _really_ want to go! _Please_..."

The knight winced, and turned to Gibbs for help. He just shook his head, a slight smirk on his face. She looked around the room and grimaced when she didn't see any backup. "You all want to go, don't you?"

"I still haven't paid you back for that 'you aren't the boss' comment." Gibbs had the slightest of smiles on his face.

"We all want to go. All those _fair maidens_-" DiNozzo was cut off suddenly as Gibbs slapped him across the back of his head.

Sarah sighed. "Fine. Come on then, we've got to get you all proper clothes."

Abby's eyes widened, and she almost squealed. "Dress fittings!"

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Abby was pestering Lalasa, asking questions about absolutely everything. Sarah was banging her head against the wall.

She didn't notice when Lalasa finished with the woman and made her way over, gently pulling her away from the wall. "My lady, the fittings for your friends are finished. Now I just need to take your measurements, and-"

"You've got my measurements." Sarah frowned, trying to get out of the torture.

"You've lost a little around your waist since then, at least. Your tunic is hanging looser than it used to." Lalasa pointed out. "And if you won't let me retake your measurements I won't make you any more court clothes. I won't have people know that I made the clothes that you're wearing if they don't fit you properly. My lady."

Sarah glared. "Fine. Make it snappy."

"Of course, my lady. I'll make it as quick as I can, without sacrificing the quality of my work." Lalasa hid her amusement well. "As a matter of fact, I was surprised to see you today. I thought surely you'd leave it until tomorrow, as you normally do."

The knight's glare only intensified.

"Look at that, Probie." DiNozzo spoke softly, but Sarah could still hear him. "Her glare is almost as good as Gibbs'."

"I know." The younger agent replied. "It's almost scary."

Lalasa was tugging at her arm. "Loosen up."

If anything, the force of her glare tripled.

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"I so can't believe this time tomorrow night we're going to be at a traditional medieval ball!" Abby's voice got louder and louder as she spoke, getting more and more excited by the second.

"I wouldn't call it a medieval ball, Abigail." Ducky protested. "Considering this dimension is somewhat different to our own, the dynamics of the monarcy are considerably more relaxed than any of the history books-"

"I know, Ducky, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be _awesome!_ I mean, come on, I get to wear a _ballgown._"

"I didn't think Abby could get this excited without her caffeine." Ziva commented, a curious tone to her voice. "It is interesting."

"I didn't think she'd go for a ballgown." McGee added.

"Well apparently she is." Sarah returned as she walked through the door. "Are you guys hungry?"

"I am _starved_." Tony answered. "What's for dinner?"

"The King wanted to know if you'd all join him in his private dining room. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a crash course on etiquette." She grimaced, glancing between the occupants of the room. "I don't think they trust _me_ to teach you."

"And why might that be, Sarah?" Ducky asked, a knowing glint in his eyes.

"Because I used to fall asleep during those lessons." She gave an involuntary sneer. "I'm pretty sure Master Oakbridge is going to be there. And for that, I apologise in advance."

"Who's this Oakbridge guy?"

"The bane of a Page's existence."

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The man held on for dear life as his transport shook and shuddered. _It was more fun with Donna._ He thought grimly, before shaking it off and grinning. _That doesn't mean it's not a lot of fun anyway! _Finally, the transport stilled, and his grin widened. He'd set the coordinates for Raxacoricofallapatorius, to see how the egg he'd delivered a couple of years prior was faring. _She'll be hatching any day now._

He stepped away from the console, flouncing towards the door. Without looking, he flung it open and left his transport, turning around to close it. He started away from the transport, before noticing the many armed guards, pointing swords and crossbows at him. He was in a corridor, with a bunch of angry looking humans. "Oh. Hello. Um… can you point me in the direction of Raxacoricofallapatorius?"

"Step away from the blue box and keep your hands visible." A man ordered. Guards circled around behind him, blocking him off from the transport.

"Hold on, hold on." He rummaged through his pockets, holding one hand above his head in semi-compliance. He found what he was looking for and grinned. "Here, see? I'm not a threat."

The guard who had ordered him to keep his hands visible frowned, eyes narrowing. "I've never heard of TARDIS. Where is that fiefdom located?"

"Uh… north?"

"I'm from the north. You're lying."

"Well, everywhere has a north!" The detainee retorted, before his hand darted back into his pocket, pulling out a pen-sized cylinder and pointing it at the window. "Sorry about this."

He pushed a button, and the window exploded.

Still blocked off from his transport, he had no option but to run forward, as the guards shied away from the exploding glass. His white converse shoes carried him down the corridor, and he disappeared in a flash of blue as he rounded the corner.

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_Soooo_ _bored…_ Sarah fought to keep her eyes open as Oakbridge demonstrated which fork to use for which part of the meal for what seemed like the fifteenth time. She'd almost drifted off when the door suddenly opened, and she jerked awake. There was a skinny man standing there, in a blue suit and white shoes, hair ruffled. "Oops! Not this one either. Excuse me."

He made to run, but stopped himself, peering back around the doorframe. "I love the crown. You'd be the king, right?"

Jonathan just stared at the spot he used to be as the man ran once more. Sarah blinked before standing suddenly. "I'll deal with it."

"Please, let me help." DiNozzo stood so suddenly his chair almost toppled over, and Sarah gave him an evil grin.

"No, you stay here. You've got some learning to do. I don't need any help." With that, she ran out the door, leaving the NCIS agents to suffer.

Sarah caught a glimpse of the man as he rounded a corner, and stopped in her tracks. That corridor only went to one place. She turned and ran, coming up to a window and undoing the latch. As she was doing so, four guardsmen ran past her. The window swung outward, and she looked down onto a small courtyard. The drop wasn't too far, so she grabbed onto the opening, and dropped to the ground quietly. The opening to the corridor the man was running down was ten meters away – Sarah hid just behind the door frame.

The man came running out a moment later, preceded by his loud statement that, "This running is just fantastic! Every time, _every time!_"

She stepped out behind him as he passed and grabbed his shoulders, kicking out the back of his knees and pulling down, putting him on his back, _hard._ "Want to tell me why you're running from the King's Guards, who you are, and just _why_ you're wearing decidedly earthly clothing?" She asked as she grabbed a fistful of his shirt, leaning over him, a knife that had formerly resided in her sleeve pressed against his throat.

He blinked up at her, before grinning broadly. "I'm the Doctor!"

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Sarah had palmed the man off to the guardsmen that had tried to catch him, after relieving him of his jacket and giving them strict instructions to make him change into a different pair of breeches. His pockets on both his pants and his jacket were much, _much _bigger on the inside. She'd seen the spell in Hogwarts before, and rather than try and search them completely, she'd just remove them from him. Now she was on her way back to the dinner King Jonathan had organized.

Sarah walked through the door to the dinner, a slight grin on her face. "We caught him, Jon. And now I'm on my way to get changed into my scary clothes and interrogate him."

Thayet, sitting next to her husband frowned in amused confusion. "You're going to get changed into your 'scary clothes' so you can _interrogate him_? _You're_ going to interrogate him?"

"This guy seemed like he wanted to answer my questions. According to the guards, he appeared out of _thin air_ in a blue box with 'Police Box' written up the top. He looks like he's from Earth. I'm pretty sure he's displaced in the way _I _find myself displaced when the Gods start interfering, if you know what I mean." She gave the Queen a knowing look. "He'll talk to me."

"I'm coming with you." Gibbs stood, and pulled his gun out from under the jacket he'd been wearing. Sarah's eyes widened.

"You can't have that in here with my King and Queen!" She almost yelled. He just gave her a look, and she sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. But we're stopping by my room first. I wasn't joking when I said I need to get changed into scary clothes."

On their way out the door, Gibbs asked, "What's wrong with what you're wearing?"

"Oh please, green tunic and brown pants? That's my 'nice girl' look. It's my _fief_ colors." Sarah grinned at the man as they walked towards her room. "If I'm going to wear brown and green, I'm pretty sure I've got a couple of tunics where the maids couldn't get the blood out."

In the end she chose a pair of black trousers, her scuffed boots, and a weapon's belt. She kept her green tunic on but pulled a leather jerkin on over the top, and a pair of soft leather riding gloves. When she made a fist, the leather creaked. On her weapon's belt she carried two daggers and a short sword, just to show the man she meant business.

Gibbs was acting as her packhorse, carrying the man's jacket, which Sarah was searching through as they walked. "I wonder what this does?" It looked like a screwdriver.

"We'll ask the suspect when we get there."

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"Let's try this again." Sarah hung her head, hands on either side of the table he was sitting at, exasperated. "What's your real name, and where do you come from?"

"My name is the Doctor, and I'm not from anywhere really." He tried, leaning back.

"'The Doctor' is not a real name." She forced out, clenching her teeth.

"It's my only name." He shrugged.

"Your parents didn't call you 'the Doctor' when you were born."

"Fine, my name's John Smith. Is that better?" 'The Doctor' suggested cheerfully.

"That's a blatantly fake name." She pushed off of the table, spinning around to shake her head at Gibbs, who was playing the strong silent type at the back of the room.

"Well that's the only other name I have to give you." He shrugged. "And yes, that's not my real name. I'm the Doctor."

Sarah turned quickly and kicked the unoccupied chair out from under the desk, sending it into a splintering collision with the wall. "Stop screwing with me! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you're in? You ran from the King's guards. You destroyed his property. You're refusing to cooperate." She got up in his face, and hissed, "I don't know what kind of dimension you're from, but you're in a lot of trouble right now."

He peered around her, to Gibbs. "She's quite scary, isn't she? As to what dimension I'm from, I'm surprised you know of a difference." He'd said this quite loudly, and she hung her head, breathing out slowly in an attempt not to physically assault the man.

"Don't say the 'D' word so loudly."

"What, Doctor?" He asked, confused. "Cause that's my name, you see-"

"Dimension!" She bellowed, before throwing her hands up in anger. "Gods, you're impossible!"

"Not impossible." The Doctor reasoned. "Highly improbable, possibly, but not impossible."

Sarah was about to throttle him when an unlikely sound came from the back of the room. Gibbs was laughing.

It was more of a chuckle, as the man moved to pick up the chair Sarah had kicked into the wall, but it was full of amusement. "I like this guy." Gibbs righted the chair in front of the table and took a seat. Just before the seat collapsed due to the damage the impact with the wall had caused.

It was Sarah's turn to laugh. "I'm so telling Ziva. And DiNozzo. And definitely Abby."

"Don't… even think about it." He glared at her as he picked himself up from the floor. Sarah just shook her head.

"Your glare doesn't work on me, Gibbs. I'm not one of your agents." Her amusement vanished as quickly as it appeared, as she turned back to the detained man. "What is this?" She slammed the pen-shaped cylinder down onto the table.

"Hey, hey, careful! That's my sonic screwdriver-"

"'Sonic screwdriver'?" Sarah shared a glance with Gibbs. "Who the hell looks at a screwdriver and says-"

"It could be more sonic, I know, I know." He grumbled. "Why does everyone always harp on about _that_?"

"Right." Sarah backed up against the wall, leaning against the cool stone. They were in the lower catacombs of the palace, in a dark room, while guardsmen attempted to secure the man's 'Police Box'. The last she'd heard, they hadn't had any luck. It was heavier than it looked. "No more messing around. I want your name. Your origins. What you're doing here, and what your intentions are."

"My name," She could have sworn his mouth quirked up into a smile. "Is the Doctor. I'm from… around. I was _actually_ on my way to Raxacoricofallapatorius, to check up on a friend, well, she's not really a friend, she's more like an enemy that's been given a second chance-"

"Okay, that's great." Sarah interrupted. "Really great. Just answer me this, do you plan on harming anyone during your stay?"

"No, never!" He was quite vehement in this, and she let out a breath of relief.

"Good. That's good. Just… hold tight. I'm going to go and see what the King says about your presence, and hopefully we can send you on your way."

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"Majesty." Sarah began with a bow for Master Oakbridge's benefit. "May I have a word in private?"

He glanced at the etiquette master, and Sarah nodded. "Master Oakbridge, would you mind leaving us to discuss the matter of our captive?"

The man hid a small sigh. "Certainly, Majesty." He stood and bowed, and held the bow.

Sarah rolled her eyes at Jonathan and Thayet, who had extremely patient expressions on their faces. They both stood and returned the bow, which had been just what Oakbridge had been waiting for. He straightened and left the room swiftly. Sarah made sure the door was closed properly behind him, before leaning against it. "He calls himself 'the Doctor', and he's from another dimension. Apparently he means no harm, but he won't tell me his real name or his origins. And he's a right pain in the arse."

The NCIS group had remained silent as Oakbridge had left, now Ducky spoke up. Sarah had thought Abby would speak first, but a quick look at the forensics expert revealed bugged out eyes and an open mouth. She was too surprised to speak. "Another dimension traveler? Are you sure?"

"He's wearing white converse shoes, he has a British accent, and he carries a sonic screwdriver." She held up the device. "It's tech. We don't have tech here, we have _candles._"

DiNozzo scoffed. "A sonic screwdriver? Who looks at a screwdriver and says-"

"It could be more sonic, I know. Apparently he hears that a lot." Sarah shook her head. "Anyway, I don't trust a man without a real name. I don't know a thing about him, and trying to speak to a brick wall with an IQ in the negatives. I don't know what to do about him."

Gibbs wordlessly passed her his Sig Sauer, and Sarah pulled a face at him. "You're a real laugh. Besides, I thought you and 'the Doctor' were buddies."

"Gibbs!" Abby admonished. "I thought you were supposed to be helping her with the interrogation!"

"He just stood there and laughed when all _I _wanted to do was beat the crap out of the guy." Sarah confirmed for the forensics expert, who frowned thunderously at the man.

"Shame on you, Gibbs-"

"How do you know his accent is British, and doesn't just sound that way?" Shepard asked pointedly.

"I spent ten months at a school in Scotland full of Brits, Scots and the occasional Irish kid. I'm pretty sure I can recognize the accent." Sarah retorted, before shaking her head. "Why am I even involving you people? It's none of your concern." Turning to Jonathan, she gave him a look, clearly expecting him to solve the problem. "What are we doing about our cheerful friend?"

The man thought about it for a moment, before letting a small smile cross his face. "He'll be your charge."

The knight's eyes widened. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no. I want him gone! He's a pain in the-"

"If you let him go, what's to guarantee he won't come back and cause trouble again?" Jon asked, smiling slightly. "You're going to escort him everywhere."

A spark of hope lit in Sarah's heart. "So I don't have to go to the banquet tomorrow-"

"Did I say that, Lady Knight?" His smile expanded, and Sarah's face fell.

"But Jo-on!"

"Sarah. You need to show the people at court that you haven't been disowned by the Gods. You also need to make sure this 'Doctor' character doesn't let everyone know you're from another dimension. So _you_ need to keep a close eye on him. You're going to accompany him until you're absolutely _certain_ he'll keep your secret and not cause trouble."

"But he's annoying." She whined, slumping into her chair.

"'But it smells', complained the stormwing." He returned, and she frowned thunderously at him.

"Hey! I am _not_ annoying. I'm spirited!"

TBC…

Ta da!!!

Okay, so I love Doctor Who so much I had to add it into this story. Plus it really helped with my planned ending. He he.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and please review!


	17. Chapter 17

A/n 1. IMPORTANT NOTE:

If this chapter hasn't loaded properly (ie italics etc) would someone please tell me? There are italics in this chapter, at least when describing ship names, so it should be pretty obvious.

Unfortunately I've just got Microsoft Office 2007, and while looking for the 'save as html file' option, I realized it wasn't there…

So anyway, thanks!

A/n 2. Okay folks, uni starts up this week. You know what that means! My chapters are going to be even more sporadic than they are now. So I apologize in advance. If it's any consolation, this story's only got a few chapters left, so I should be able to finish it up fairly quickly. Hopefully. Unless I get carried away, like I did with my last story… which should have only been like, four chapters long. But then I decided the Justice League needed to be involved in this chaotic creation of mine. Hehe.

Read, review, I may even put my story before my education… who am I kidding, if it's study or fanfic, I'll choose fanfic everytime!

Chapter 17:

Karrde had arrived at Coruscant nine and a half hours after their call. He'd received clearance to land; now Mara and the Solo children were walking up the boarding ramp as the information broker attempted to smile reassuringly at them. Jaina took one look at the man's brittle expression and snorted.

"Sarah's rubbing off on you, kid." Mara threw a worried glance at the child, who beamed at the supposed compliment. "No, that's not a good thing."

"Why not, Aunt Mara?" It was Anakin this time. "Don't you like Sarah?"

"I do. She's my kind of person." The woman confirmed. "That just makes it even worse."

Karrde had given up on his reassuring smile. Now he sent Mara a slightly interested stare. "Would this be the homeless woman who spent a brief stint in President Organa Solo's home after saving her from an assassination attempt, Sarah Gibson, that you're referring to?"

"Finally found a puzzle you don't know the answer to, Karrde?" Mara shot back.

He stared at her for a moment longer, before letting a very small smile cross his face. He nodded down the corridor, gesturing for them to move deeper into the bowels of the ship. A slight hum signified its take off. "Where are we taking you?"

Mara bit her lip. "I have an idea."

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"So who's this woman that's got Wraith Leader's panties in a bunch?" Dia Passik, Wraith Five asked over the comm.

"Eleven said he spent most of the mission complaining about how psychotic she is." Kell added.

"I heard she's some kind of awesome fighter. Sounds like the kind of person I'd like to meet." Shalla Nelprin, Wraith Six, commented lightly. "Right before I grind her into the mats on the training room floor."

"Cut the comm. chatter." Tycho Celchu, leader of Rogue Squadron ordered. As the highest ranking officer among the two fighter squadron flights, he was in command of their covert pursuit of the three pirates they'd bugged. Theirs was the second leg of the pursuit, and they had just another hour to go. It was understandable for the other pilots to be bored, especially the members of a squadron such as the Wraith, designed to be a bunch of misfits, but if their quarry found out they were being followed on Tycho's watch, he'd never live it down. He didn't feel the need to add that from what Corran had told him, it would take a pretty fancy fighter to take down Sarah Gibson.

"Yes sir." Five added unnecessarily, almost out of spite. She'd made it clear she'd follow Wraith Leader's orders without question, but Tycho had better be ready for a fight if he issued one she didn't like.

Wedge had given him advice on dealing with the Wraiths – if it wasn't dire, let them be. So he let Dia think she'd had the final, parting shot, so long as she didn't attempt to start another conversation with the other Wraiths. Besides which, that woman scared him.

Even though he'd given the order to be quiet, he was curious about the mystery woman as well. He'd met her very briefly at a banquet thrown in her honor after she saved the Chief of State's life, but at the time he'd thought, along with his partner, that she was just a homeless kid in the right place at the right time with a bit of bravery to her. Winter had been away from the Solos when it was revealed that Gibson was a little different to your average girl, and Tycho hadn't had the chance to meet her face to face again since the banquet. The most he knew about her was that she had a penchant for shiny weapons and didn't appreciate being kidnapped. And that described most of the women he knew.

A private comm. signal pinged on the console in front of him, and he sighed before answering. "Rogue Leader here."

"Sir, I'm picking up a bit of comm chatter between our pirates. It's encrypted, and - oh, look, they've just changed direction." Inyri Forge's voice was almost interested, not at all worried that the pirates might be up to something. "They're headed right for us."

"Sithspawn." He muttered, before slapping the open comm button. "We've been found out. Form pairs and split from formation."

"Yes sir." Dia sounded eager to follow this order as she and Nelprin split from the group. It meant she got to destroy a few enemies of the New Republic. Of course she was eager.

He shook his head as he hit the switch that turned his S-foils into attack position. He and Asyr Seilar, Rogue Two, split off and began their run at the enemy, even as he sent a comm message back to the fleet. "Rogue Leader to the_ Mon Remonda_. We've been discovered, engaging the enemy now."

He didn't wait for a response as he switched his laser cannon over to a quad blast. It took longer to fire, but for a head to head it was the most effective shot. And Uglies weren't exactly the most dangerous fighters to be facing. He jinked and juked before they got into range, and quick look out of his canopy showed the other pair of Rogue fighters doing the same. Pedna Scotian was the newest member of the squadron, so he'd paired her with one of the most experienced members, Inyri Forge. She had a very impressive kill rate and had survived service with Rogue Squadron since before they retook Coruscant – which was over ten years prior.

Pedna had been rescued from slavery by a former member of the squadron, and taken his surname out of respect, but that was the most she'd opened up to anyone about. She was a very private person, leading to the second reason Tycho had paired her with Forge.

Forge had grown up in the harsh environment of Kessel, a penal colony where criminals were sent to work in the appalling conditions of the spice mines to work off their debt to society. Rather than being a criminal herself, Forge was a victim of circumstance – she'd been born in the mines. As a result, her formative years were spent watching people forced into virtual slavery. And not everyone that ended up on that asteroid was a real criminal. Often the Empire's political prisoners ended up alongside the former Black Sun members and spice smugglers. Tycho had hoped Forge's slightly abrasive attitude and experience with Pedna's position would force the other woman to open up to the rest of the squadron. But so far, he'd had no success.

Tycho couldn't see the Wraiths as they maneuvered to either flank of the flight of Rogue pilots, presumably juking and jinking as well, to avoid the inevitable laser fire that was about to pour in their direction.

"Rogue Leader, we are detecting more than our quarry headed for us." Hohass Ekwesh, nicknamed Runt, intoned.

"How many more?" Celchu hazarded the question.

"Another flight. It seems they may have been meeting up with our quarry before we were noticed. They will not join the fight until approximately two minutes after we have met with our quarry." Runt answered, and Tycho nodded.

"Two minutes for eight fighters to deal with three Uglies. Shouldn't be too hard. Do we have schematics for this other flight?"

"We have determined they are also Uglies, Rogue Leader."

"Good job, Eight."

The first wave hit, and were just as quickly destroyed. Tycho made sure he shot clean through the top of the cockpit of one of the fighters, leaving the ship mostly intact. Hopefully they'd be able to salvage the navicomputer, and its coordinates, so the mission wouldn't be a complete loss.

"Nice shooting, kids. Let's take out the next wave and secure ourselves a navicomputer, and we can head home."

A chorus of affirmatives answered him, and he resettled in his seat, ready for the next skirmish.

When the second wave hit, the three enemy fighters didn't bother trying to hit them. They just focused on dodging their shots, and blasted right past them. Tycho swore when he saw their plan and spun his fighter around as quickly as he could, travelling at top speed after the fighters, the rest of his command following closely behind him. He took out one of the fighters as he gained on the others, while Kell and Dia took out two more. The final fighter shot at the floating husk of the intact Ugly just as Tycho passed him. Quickly, he shunted all power to his aft shields and turned into the line of the laser beam, shielding their only hope of finding the pirate base with his own ship.

The X-Wing shuddered violently under the impact, but the last pirate didn't get a chance to fire again as Pedna took him out with a proton torpedo, creating a large fireball that licked at the edges of his depleted shields.

"Rogue Leader, come in." Inyri's voice was alarmed. "Come in, One."

When he'd gotten his breathing under control, he keyed the comm. "I'm here, Four. Systems are reading as normal, shields are down to thirty two percent. But we've got ourselves a navicomputer."

He had to order comm silence three times before the victorious whoops quieted enough for him to issue a report to the _Mon Remonda_, and a request for a salvage team.

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It was the next morning, and after a night in the underground cells, the Doctor was more than ready to listen to Sarah. They were sitting in an open airy room on the second floor, as a change of scenery, but the man was still alone in the room with her, in clothes the guardsmen had provided for him. Sarah had kept his blue suit in her room. She didn't trust him not to have a couple of dozen weapons hidden amongst his extra deep pockets.

"So I'm you're guardian for the time being. You're my responsibility, so if you play up I'll take it personally, got it?" She added a glare to prove her point.

"Well I'd be more than happy to get out of your hair, if you'll just take me back to my ship-" The Doctor tried hopefully, preying on Sarah's obvious disdain for her new job as prisoner babysitter.

"I'm afraid I can't do that until you give me some proper answers to my questions." She retorted. "And I will not accept the Doctor as your name, or 'from around' as your origins. And without a knowledge of your name or origins, I don't trust your intentions aren't evil."

He scoffed. "Well, if my intentions were evil, wouldn't I have done something… evil, by now?"

"Honestly? I don't know. But you come from another dimension. So do I." Sarah explained. "I come from a planet called Earth-"

"I know what Earth is." He rolled his eyes.

"Well I come from there, and it's a fair sight more advanced than Tortall. If our foreign allies found out where I'm actually from, and the fact that the technologies are much greater there, then we'd get in trouble for withholding such an alliance between Tortall and Earth. Our allies would become our enemies, and Tortall would be obliterated. Since I can't trust _you_ not to run around screaming about other dimensions, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"You could just let me go." He shrugged, as though it were no big deal, but Sarah shook her head.

"The guardsmen that first found you said you appeared out of thin air. Your ship teleports, rather than travelling in a straight line. I've no guarantee apart from your word that you wouldn't reappear in the middle of tonight's banquet, for example, and start yelling about other realms." She sighed, scrubbing her face. "Believe me, this is going to be harder for me than it is for you."

"_You're_ not a prisoner." The Doctor pointed out. "Besides, what's to stop me from shouting about other 'realms' tonight anyway?"

"Me. I'll be near you the entire night, so if you utter so much as a peep, I'll use a silencing spell on you, and I'll keep it on you until the King decides keeping you around is too much trouble."

"Spell? You people believe in magic?" His lips twitched, as though he wanted to laugh.

"Believe, use, study." She confirmed. "I know, I was skeptical too, but I've learnt how to harness my Gift. You don't want to cross me, Doctor."

"Hey! You called me by my name." The man's smile covered his face, and there was nothing Sarah wanted to do more at that moment than wipe it off. "Anyway, magic isn't magic, it's science. It's all in the words you use, which are a science as well, and that would make you not human-"

"One, I can do spells silently. Two, I _am_ too human." The last was added in a petulant voice. "Human born and bred, thank you. Not that being an alien would be such a bad thing, I know a bunch of them, and they're some of the best people I know."

"Glad you think so." He let slip, before wincing. "Forget I said that."

"You're not human." The realization struck Sarah suddenly, and she let out a breath. "Well, what special abilities do you have?"

"Abilities?" He asked innocently, face earnest.

"A friend of mine looks human. He can fly, pick up a road train without breaking a sweat, and he's bulletproof. Another friend of mine's a Martian, and he can do pretty much all of that, and shape change-"

"You know a Martian? I thought they were extinct-"

"They might be the dimension you're from, but-"

"There you go mentioning dimensions again, but I'm not from a different one." He interrupted. "The TARDIS has only ever been to one different dimension, and it can't go back there again." The Doctor's expression held such heartbreak and anguish for a moment, Sarah's eyes widened in shock. The stayed that way as he seemed to rebound from the pain, a large grin reappearing on his face. "So that means you don't travel between dimensions either-"

"I've been to four different Earths."

"Okay, so you _do_ travel between dimensions. That doesn't mean magic's real, and it doesn't mean you're human." It seemed he wanted to pick holes in her story.

"I _am_ human." She growled, before fishing into her pocket and retrieving the man's sonic screwdriver. "Here, scan me."

He picked up the device and switched it on, pointing it at her. After a moment of staring at him defiantly, Sarah smirked. "Well?"

"You- You're human? No, that can't be right." He fiddled with the settings on the device, going so far as to bang it on the table, before pointing it at her again. When the same result appeared, his confusion tripled. "Well then you don't have magic."

"Oh, I beg to differ." Her grin turned toothy, and she held up her hands. "This trick's a favourite of mine with difficult people."

With that, she called upon her Gift, and crimson flames engulfed her hands. His eyebrows rose steadily. "Well that's interesting. But spontaneous human combustion was proven as a medical condition in twenty three forty two-"

Sarah's eyes narrowed at his rationalization, before she focused on her hands, switching from fire to light. He pursed his lips for a moment, standing to pace. He had lapped the room four times before grinning. "You've got some sort of luminescent coating on your skin-"

"No, I don't." Sarah rolled her eyes at his explanation, before drawing her wand. Just as he was about to reclaim his chair, she pointed it in the chair's general direction, subtly, and murmured, "_Accio chair._"

The chair flew out from beneath him, causing him to land painfully on his backside. "Now that's cheating. Your wand device obviously utilizes kinetic energy to-"

He was cut off rudely by the second spell she used, a silencing charm. "Explain that, genius." The Doctor was gesticulating wildly, pointing to his throat. Sarah just smiled pleasantly at him. "The problem isn't with your throat, it's making noise. The silencing charm just means I don't have to listen to any more of your drivel."

He didn't look amused. After another few moments of waving his arms around, he sighed, before holding up four fingers. The knight cocked an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"

The Doctor nodded vehemently, and Sarah sighed. "Alright, four words." He nodded, before holding up one finger. "First word…" She was shaking her head at the ridiculous situation as he pointed at his own chest. "You…" He nodded, holding up two fingers, before pointing to his eye. "Eye? Look? See? See. You see…?" Now he was pointing straight at her. "Me. You see me? No?" The Doctor shook his head, before holding up the four fingers again. Now he pointed at the wand held loosely in her hand, and realization dawned. "You want to see my wand? How's about no?"

He sent her a dirty look, mouthing words at her, and she rolled her eyes, pointing it back at him. "_Finite._"

"-stupid ape – oh."

"I'm a stupid ape am I?" She asked pointedly. "I can do more than simple summoning and silencing spells with this wand, thank you very much. And you want to be really nice to me so I can give the King a good report and you can go on your merry little way."

The Doctor seemed to weigh that fact up, before nodding decisively, a grin on his face. "Take me to your leader, then."

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"_Millennium Falcon, _you are cleared for landing." The _Mon Remonda's _comm. officer's voice confirmed. Han gently nudged the controls, sending the ship through the docking bay doors.

Wedge was there to greet them when they walked down the ramp, along with Corran Horn. The Rogue Squadron pilot saluted Leia, before bowing low to Luke. "Master Skywalker."

"Corran." Luke returned the bow with one of his own.

Wedge turned to Han. "How'd your search go?"

"We were ambushed by a bunch of pirates looking to kidnap Leia." The exsmuggler retorted. "Apart from that, we managed to find a safe route through the Maw. Of course, seeing as that isn't where their base is…" He trailed off sourly, even as Wedge tried to reassure him.

"If anything, it will allow Republic ships to navigate to Kessel safely to resume business until all of the space mines are recovered."

"And it does absolutely nothing to help find these bottom feeders." Han retorted. "What did you find out?"

"We'll discuss it in my office. Do you need to clean up, or…?"

"We're ready now." Leia nodded towards the blast doors, and the five of them set out on the long hike through the warship.

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"Do you really trust her, Jethro?" Jenny asked, eyes serious. She'd cornered the man when the younger agents had gone exploring. They were alone in the common area of the quarters the earthlings were sharing.

Gibbs stared his former partner and lover down for a moment, considering the answer. "The question is, why don't you, Jen?"

She was thrown off guard by this, and frowned. "She talks about going back to deal with Marsh, but she's shown absolutely no sign of following through. Even now, she's more worried about an intruder to this castle than Marsh."

"She talks about going back to deal with a _God_, Jen. And she's not doing anything to actually deal with him because her God, Mithros, told her not to. We're agents, we serve our country, we know the danger. We're also a lot older than her. She's twenty one, Jen. You can't expect her to just want to throw away her life by rushing into this." He defended his former suspect.

"And she's not Kelly, Jethro." The woman shot back. "Kelly would be roughly Sarah's age, wouldn't she? If she hadn't been killed."

Her words were harsh, playing on his one weakness. And it worked, as he sent her a single glare and stormed out of the room.

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Isolder brought the space yacht out of hyperspace, piloting it into the atmosphere of the planet his wife had found. It was unusual enough for the Dathomiri warrior to harness her Force abilities that he hadn't questioned her when she programmed in a course for a small marsh planet called Dagobah into the navicomputer. He just hoped she was right when she said it would be safe for their daughter to hide there.

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"Your Royal Majesties," Sarah began, bowing low for the benefit of their 'guest', "May I present 'Sir' Doctor of TARDIS? Doctor, presenting their Royal Majesties, King Jonathan the Fourth of Conte, son of Roald the Peacemaker, and Queen Thayet the Peerless, founder of the Queen's Riders. Majesties, the Doctor here wanted to speak with you."

"Is that so, Lady Knight?" Jonathan's voice was cool, unimpressed. Sarah had arranged for the meeting to take place in the greeting hall, one of the more opulent rooms in the house. She didn't think he'd be too impressed, but she was hoping to throw him off guard. It seemed Jonathan had the same idea.

"Yes, Majesty. He believes he can convince you to allow him to leave, when the very security of our nation depends upon his trustworthiness." She let her voice go very dry. "And he insists his name is 'Doctor' and that he's simply from 'around'."

"Oh, now, don't put it that way." The man protested loudly. "I'm perfectly trustworthy."

"Prove it, TARDIS."

"No, TARDIS is the name of my ship, _I'm_ the Doctor-" He interrupted the King's ultimatum, before being silenced by Sarah.

"My name's Sarah Gibson, but if I'm speaking to someone they're just as likely to call me Greenstone, because that's where I come from, as my title states. Sir Sarah of Greenstone. You're 'Sir Doctor of TARDIS', and I'll thank you not to backchat my King." She punctuated this statement with a glare, and he held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay. But I really wish you'd let me go. I was serious when I said I was heading to Raxacoricofallapatorius, and that I don't want to hurt anyone." His voice was plaintive, and Sarah shared a look with Jon and Thayet.

The Queen was the first to speak, "You understand where we're coming from, of course. You won't tell us your name, or even where you're from-"

"Gallifrey. I am from Gallifrey, I'm a Time Lord. Not that you've heard of the planet _or_ the race, stupid apes." The last was muttered, but Sarah elbowed him anyway, shooting him a glare.

"Watch who you're calling a stupid ape, 'Time Lord'. I'd wager you've never heard of Coruscant or Wookies." Sarah sighed, scrubbing her face before giving her monarchs a shrug. "He's right, though. I haven't heard of either of them. Not that that's saying much – I've been to a grand total of five different planets, not including Earth, and two of them were… unpleasant, and one of them I didn't even know the name of."

"Well, now that I've told you where I'm from-" He began, but he was interrupted yet again.

"What's a Time Lord?"

He was getting frustrated at the constant interruptions, Sarah could see. Judging from the way he spoke, he was used to talking his way out of situations, or at least stalling long enough for back up to arrive. How she wished she had that talent.

"I'm over nine hundred years old-"

"That doesn't answer the question."

"You people wouldn't understand the answer to the question."

"Stop insulting us, you idiot. You're doing nothing to convince us that you're trustworthy." Sarah turned him around, so he was facing her.

"I'm the last of my kind. The Time War destroyed all other Time Lords, and it was supposed to destroy our enemies. It didn't – we only managed that recently, and it took three Time Lords-"

"I thought you said you were the last Time Lord."

"I am. One of the others was a 'clone' of me, and the other was a human that was infected with Time Lord DNA. We're much smarter than you humans." He sighed, shaking his head. "The other two committed mass genocide by destroying our enemies. The other Doctor is in that other dimension I mentioned earlier. And the human that was infected reverted to the state she was before she met me. So yes, I am the last Time Lord left. And I'll insult you and your monarchs as much as I like, because you're nothing special. Rose, Martha, Donna, _they_ were special. You're just a bunch of stupid apes, a dime a dozen-"

Sarah gaped as the man shouted at them, sharing a startled glance with Jon and Thayet. He'd been so secretive, hiding every detail about his life from them, and now he was shouting loud enough to be heard in Carthak.

Eventually, he wound down, allowing Jonathan to get a word in. "You may think there's nothing special about us. You're entitled to that belief, but you aren't the only person to have a hard time of your existence. My wife had to flee her country when enemies of her father wanted her dead. Her mother threw herself off of a tower as a point about the mistreatment of her people in that country. I survived several assassination attempts by my cousin in my youth, _before_ I was crowned. Together, we've repelled enemy armies and immortal attacks, improved the fair for women in this country tenfold, and commoners alike. And that's not even mentioning the ordeal's Sarah's had to endure in her recent life-"

"Jon." Sarah shook her head. She didn't want a stranger hearing her King whine about how hard her life had been recently.

"No, let the man speak. You're so adamant we all share secrets, what's yours?" The Doctor snarled.

"Jon!" Sarah repeated, sharply. "Shut it."

"You tell your King to-"

"Yes she does." Jonathan confirmed drolly. "And she knows she'll get away with it, because she's correct. I shouldn't be disclosing her personal information to a man she doesn't trust." He stood, striding to Sarah's side, placing a supporting hand on her shoulder. "She is one of our trusted advisors, in our Inner Council. As such, it's her job to advise us in many issues, including when to 'shut it'."

"She's a little young to be an advisor-"

"Her age isn't measured in years of life. Neither is yours." Thayet joined them, and Sarah let her monarch's speak. She just got frustrated with the man when she tried. "And she provides a fresh perspective when others won't. She's also your keeper, which means you've got to impress her if you want us to allow you to return to your ship and be on your way."

"What if I made a run for it?" He hazarded a guess, surprising Sarah into laughing.

"Then I'd catch up with you, and your chance at leaving would go out the window."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Ziva's smile was wicked as she bowed to her opponent. Her, DiNozzo and McGee had stumbled across an indoor training room in their explorations, one that was in use by a group of people, men and women, wearing brown pants and white shirts.

Ziva had figured this must be the infamous Riders that Sarah had told her about – the only branch of the military to allow women to train and fight beside men. They were exchanging blows in unarmed combat when one of the men noticed the smirk on her face. He had glanced at his friends, before sauntering over to the group. When McGee and DiNozzo had declined his offer of a match, Ziva had stepped forward.

Now he was cradling a bruised jaw and a bloody nose, while Ziva faced off against her third opponent. They were well trained, she didn't have the chance to toy with them as much as she usually did. Of course, the Mossad had trained her, so they didn't really stand a chance.

McGee and DiNozzo had watched with near perpetual winces on their faces as each opponent stepped forward.

Her latest opponent had returned her bow. Now his fist was sailing towards her head. She dodged to the left, bringing her knee up to crash into his ribs, and he doubled over. A quick elbow to the face, and he was on the ground, holding his face. _So he went down a little faster than the others…_

"Very good, Officer David." A familiar voice intoned from behind her. "You could almost defeat young Riley."

DiNozzo and McGee shared alarmed glances at the Shang's words, even as Ziva whipped around, eyebrows raised. "'Almost'?"

"Sarah will testify to the benefit of training for hours on end. Your balance is off centre to your right. His is perfect. As a smaller person his agility is greater, he trains with a weighted harness to improve his strength, like all of the Pages, and due to that his speed has also improved. And due to his many, many mistakes at the beginning of his training, his endurance is without compare." The older woman had a wicked smirk on her face. "I'd wager you've seen Sarah fight. But, thanks to her outburst yesterday, you haven't seen her fight the way she _can_. The way that Riley fights. The way that I trained them. It is understandable, with your skills and knowledge of Sarah's fighting _style_ that you may believe yourself a capable opponent, but I am Shang. You won't be able to beat me."

"So you won't face me." Ziva's face had grown darker as the woman's assessment progressed. Now she aimed to bait the woman into a match.

"I never said _that._"

McGee and DiNozzo settled down for what was going to be a _very_ interesting match.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"Abigail, we're lost." Ducky intoned dryly. "Why don't you just ask the next person we come across for directions?"

"I can find their rooms, I swear!" The forensics expert protested.

"Have you ever been there?"

"No, but Sarah said they were just off of Numair's office. And we were there yesterday. So I should be able to find them."

"Do you know where we are now, Abby?" He asked pointedly.

She stopped, before a determined look crossed her face. "Next person we see, we're going to ask for directions. Numair Salmalin is answering my questions about magic, damnit!"

TBC…

Another chapter completed! Yay for me! And yay for you, for making it to the end.

Next chapter : The banquet.

Here's a little hint of the insanity to come –

Abby is bored.

The Doctor is looking for a way to liven things up.

Abby + the Doctor = mayhem the likes of which you've never seen!

Muwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I have some ideas where I'm going with it all, but that doesn't mean that if you've got one I can't put it in there.

Trust me, if it fits and it's fun to right, I'd put a bit about pink cattle.

But it doesn't, so don't suggest that.

Thanks for the reviews in advance, and for those that have reviewed the past sixteen chapters!

AnotherChance.


	18. Chapter 18

A/n. There's a naughty word in this chapter that I've never put in a story before, just a quick warning. But it's a song lyric, and I didn't want to put *** so you'll have to put up with it.

I just realized I haven't disclaimered this story… at all. So here it is, if you recognize it, it aint mine…. Unless you've read the rest of this series… then you'd probably recognize Sarah. But that's about it.

Also – the lyrics are 'Before I Forget' by Slipknot (only the most awesomest song on Guitar Hero 3) and 'Doomsday' by Atreyu.

You'll see why I've put that there in a minute, if you read on! And no, I don't only listen to metal/hard rock. I like soft rock… punk… grunge. Just kidding. I like most music. Just not the Spice Girls…

And thanks to dares to dream for telling me the italics worked! Also, thanks very much for the reviews, so far this is my most reviewed story (it overtook my last Sarah story in the last chapter or so).

But forget about that, read on!

Chapter 18:

"How do I look?" The forensics expert gave a twirl, her blue dress fanning out around her knees. She stopped suddenly, and stared at McGee expectantly.

"Uh… you look, um…" He stuttered, before taking a breath and smiling at her. "You look stunning Abby."

"Thanks!" She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, before turning, arms folded, glaring at another door between the common room and the living quarters. "Hurry up, Ziva!"

The Mossad agent looked murderous as she trudged out from her room. "I do not see the point in wearing a big pink frilly dress. Sarah gets to wear breeches."

"But Ziva! You look so pretty-" Abby's protest was cut off as DiNozzo opened the door to his room, straightening his collar.

"But you'd look prettier if you didn't accept Wildcat's challenge today. Or at least let Alanna heal you black eye." He added in a murmur.

"What was that? I'll give _you_ a black eye!" The woman finally snapped, and he shook his head.

"Nothing. I said nothing." The senior field agent turned to Abby, his grin back to its normal self.

"You look stunning."

"That's what Tim said."

"McGeek was right for a change."

"I _know!_ Scary, isn't it?" Abby replied cheekily. Nobody noticed when Gibbs exited his room at exactly the same time as Director Shepard. He took one look at her, and walked out the door.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"Well my blue suit is perfectly nice-" The Doctor tried.

"I pulled a kitchen sink out of one of your pockets when I was attempting to search it. You could have a bazooka in there for all I know. You're wearing this." She thrust the garment at him, before pulling his sonic screwdriver out of her pocket. "I'm trusting you just a little, here. I'll give you back your sonic screwdriver, but if you do anything stupid, like try to escape, I'll have you locked up for the rest of your life. Which, according to you, could be a _very _long time." She didn't give him a chance to respond, stalking to the door and flinging it open. "You've got five minutes."

"Five-" The rest of his protest was cut off as the door closed behind her, and she leant against it, letting out a sigh. She was already dressed and ready for the banquet, but Jon hadn't been joking when he'd said the Doctor was coming too. Unfortunately.

_This is gonna be hard._

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

They met Sarah at the entrance to the ballroom, and she looked them all over, tugging at a collar here, repinning a stray hair there, before giving them a nod. "We all ready for some fun?"

"Why do you hate banquets so much?" Abby asked innocently. "They seem entertaining!"

"Seem being the operative word in that assumption." The Doctor muttered, startling a grin out of Sarah.

"You share my opinion on banquets and balls?"

He gave a shrug. "Well…. Only when they're full of pompous people talking about how important they are."

Her grin spread. "I'm going to go to the King right now and recommend we let you go."

"Really?" His voice was hopefully, and her grin spread further.

"No."

"Now that's just mean…"

Gibbs had been listening to the conversation with half an ear, waiting for the doors to open so he could get the banquet over and done with. He strode over to where the Director was on Ducky's arm, replacing the other man, who made to stand opposite McGee next to Abby. He took the same position as his friend had occupied. "If you ever bring Kelly up again, I'll resign then and there. Got it?"

The red head pursed her lips, sending him a look full of contrite. "Jethro, I'm-"

"Don't apologize." He began, but she finished for him.

"It's a sign of weakness, I know." She gave the crook of his arm a squeeze. "But I'm sorry."

Sarah watched and waited, anxious, for the doors to swing open. She had a hand in her pocket, playing with the focusing opal Marek had delivered that she'd topped off over the course of the last few days, just in case. When the doors finally opened, she looked to the Doctor, who was unfortunately her escort for the evening. "Behave yourself."

"I'm always well behaved." He protested with a frown. "Name one time you've known me to be misbehaved."

"I've known you for a day."

"See? You can't name a time."

"In that day you've run from the King's guardsmen, broken one of his windows, and called me, _and_ my monarchs stupid apes, several times." The look she sent him dared him to argue.

Never one to disappoint, the Doctor shook his head. "But those were _little _things. When have I done something big?"

Sarah just glared and dragged him along. "Come along."

The herald announced them, and the moment she walked into the room, conversation stopped. "Is that me-" The Doctor asked, looking around interestedly.

"No." Sarah answered quietly. "It's me. They think I've been disowned by the Gods."

"What?" His voice was entirely too loud as he turned to face her, in the entrance to the room. "Why?"

She tugged at his arm, pulling him further into the ballroom before answering. "At the moment – this is what King Jonathan was going to tell you – I have a psychotic God in a mortal's body after me in another dimension. And everyone here knows about it."

"Well why the hell did you tell anyone?!" He asked, staring at her like she was an imbecile.

"Quiet down." She ordered, face dark. "And I didn't tell anyone, someone overheard me telling Jonathan. Now shut up, smile, and bow to the King and Queen!" She did as she ordered, glaring up at Jonathan, who looked highly amused.

"He's laughing at you." The Doctor observed helpfully.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The meal had been opulent. Now Abby was bored. "This music sucks."

"I thought you were excited to be at a medieval banquet." Sarah muttered.

"And now I'm bored."

"Told you so." The knight returned. "But don't worry, the sucky music's about to get louder – the dancing will start soon."

"Ohh! Do you think someone will ask-"

"No." Sarah shook her head. "I've got the Plague, therefore so do you."

She saw Tony wince out of the corner of her eye, and realized what she'd said. Ducky was shaking his head, a droll look on his face. "Aptly put, my dear."

"Sorry."

Ziva noticed Tony's slightly worse mood and grinned wickedly.

When the music started, she pushed him out onto the dance floor, but she wasn't able to beat Shepard pushing Gibbs out onto the floor. Sarah was approached by a tall, bony man, who held out a hand. "Messenger. May I have this dance?"

"Are you sure you're not worried about cooties?" She muttered. When he looked like he was going to respond, she hastened to amend, "Of course, Your Grace."

As he led her onto the floor, Abby heard her ask, "How's the weather in Tyra at this time of year?"

"If she's got the Plague, why did he want to dance with her?"

"To make a fool out of her." The Doctor, also left behind, explained. "Watch. In the last ten seconds he's stepped on her feet at least three times. There he goes again, and he's doing it on purpose. If she complains he'll say that it's not his fault she's not a good dancer, and if she doesn't he'll keep inflicting pain until the dance is over." Abby glared at the ambassador when she noticed the Doctor was telling the truth. The Time Lord continued. "I really should do something about it, cut in or something." Instead, he stood there and took another sip of his wine, before turning mildly interested eyes to Abby. "Wanna go for a spin around the dance floor then?"

"Hey, _you're_ a prisoner of the crown. How do I know you won't try to use me as a hostage?" She asked, semi-serious.

He rolled his eyes. "Your loss."

"No, wait!" She protested. "I was only joking. And I'm bored. And tired. I haven't had my Caf-Pow! since I got here. How did I not notice the lack of caffeinated goodness?!" McGee had been standing there, just as uncomfortable with the scene as Abby. Now she rounded on him and grabbed his hand, holding it to her head. "Am I burning up? Do I have withdrawal symptoms?"

"No, Abby, you're fine." He soothed. "And if you're bored, I've got _this_." He waved an iPod at her, and her eyes bugged out of her face.

"And I've got all my songs on it!" She made to snatch it from the man, but he pulled it away.

"Since when?!"

"Since I got bored the afternoon before we left and decided that next time you started up your iPod you were going to be in for a shock." Abby grinned. "The volume's up to maximum too."

He stared at her for a moment, deciding whether or not to put the device back in his pocket, before sighing. "We'll _share_."

"Fine, but I get to choose the music. I left your _Coltrane_ on there as well so you wouldn't get too upset, but we aren't listening to that."

In the end they ended up standing together against a wall, heads bent slightly towards each other as they took an earphone each. The Doctor took one look at them and sighed, before turning to Ducky. "So, Doctor Mallard, enjoying the banquet?"

"It's quite fascinating, watching the social interactions between different ranks in the nobility." He admitted. "I can honestly say, if you'd asked me a week ago where I expected to be today, a banquet in Tortall would not have been my answer."

"No, I can imagine not." The Doctor intoned distractedly. "Do you think Sarah's ever going to let me go, or should I make an escape attempt?"

"She's a reasonable person, Doctor." Ducky replied, barely fazed by the question. "I'm sure, when you prove to her you mean no harm, she'll be more than happy to let you be on your way. She's just got a bit on her mind right now, and you're the least of her worries."

He was about to respond when DiNozzo and Ziva came back from the dance floor. The male agent grinned broadly, before stealing the earphone from McGee. The younger agent sighed, frowning at Tony. "Come on, Tony, give it back."

"Learn to share, Probie."

Abby slapped DiNozzo on the arm. "You could at least say please."

"Please." He threw back over his shoulder, before grinning at Abby, who returned the expression with a shake of her head.

The Doctor had a mischievous glint in his eyes as he strolled over to the quartet. "Can I have a look at that?"

Abby sent him a distrustful look before passing over the device. "Only because it's Tim's."

"Thanks a lot, Abby!" The younger agent looked appalled, but didn't try to snatch it back off of the Doctor.

The Time Lord flipped it around a few time, examining it from every angle. "Ohh, very nice. The single biggest selling personal music player in history. Very nice indeed." Without warning he reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pointing it at the iPod. McGee tried snatching it off of the man, but it was too late.

Blasting out of the tiny speakers, amplified to an impossible volume, was Before I Forget, by Slipknot.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Sarah stumbled and almost fell when the sound of guitars, drums and _moaning_ came from across the room. Where she'd left the NCIS employees… and the Doctor.

_My end  
It justifies my means  
All I ever do is delay  
My every attempt to evade  
The end of the road and my end  
It justifies my means  
All I ever do is delay  
My every attempt to evade  
The end of the road_

_I am a world before I am a man…_

That was all the banquet heard as Sarah finally reacted, grabbing her wand and swishing it violently at the offending music player. "_Silencio!_"

Silence reigned after her shouted spell, although it only affected the music player. After a few moments, she ground out, "_What was that_?"

"That was pretty tame compared to some of the other bands I listen to." Abby protested.

"What _the hell_ was that?" Sarah elaborated.

"Completely my fault. I didn't quite calibrate the sonic screwdriver correctly, it came out a little louder than I had thought." The Doctor admitted without a shred of humility.

"You did it on purpose." She accused.

"I would never-"

"What was that, Lady Knight?" The ambassador she'd been dancing with asked, a predatory look on his face.

Sarah ground her teeth, casting a glance at Jonathan and Thayet, who had also been dancing. They had a mixture of amusement and exasperation on their faces. "That was…" She tried to find a descriptive word, but settled on the one word she didn't want to use. "Music. That was music from America."

Murmurs filled the hall, as well as a few incredulous laughs, and she continued. "It's called rock music, or metal, I'm not really sure of the difference."

"I'd like to hear more American music, if you wouldn't mind." The ambassador requested sweetly, and Sarah narrowed her eyes.

"It's hardly suitable music for company such as this."

"But I have requested it."

Sarah look to Jon for guidance; he just gave her a nod. She hung her head before letting out a little sigh. "Certainly, Your Grace."

When she made her way over to Abby, she hissed, "You'd better have something nice and peachy, full of sunshine and buttercups on that thing, or so help me-"

"Ooh! I have just the thing." She fiddled with the device, before pressing the play button. When no sound came out, she look to Sarah. "Well! Take your spell off of it!"

Sarah stared at her for a full twenty seconds, trying to determine what kind of song she'd chosen, before pointing her wand at the device. "_Finite_."

_A rush of blood  
To my head leaves me winded and wanting _

Sarah had raised her wand again, but the ambassador pushed her hand down, a very sly look on his face. It seemed he'd found a way to humiliate her after all. She seethed silently, glaring at Abby, who's eyes had widened as she frantically searched for another song. "Finger slipped! Hold on!"

_To feel the weakness in my body  
Beaten and crushed like my soul  
I walked the streets flirting death  
But I never kissed back  
I'm so lucky so cursed so fucked up-_

Sarah glanced up sharply at the curse, just before the music cut out, only to be replaced by what sounded like a polka. She stared at the forensics expert. "You've got heavy death thrasher metal and a… _polka_, on your iPod."

"What's wrong with a polka?"

"May I ask what the name of that song was? And how you managed to play it without a band present?" The ambassador asked smoothly.

"Uh…." Abby stared at Sarah, wide eyed. "The- the song's called Doomsday, and uh… how it works… that's a funny story, really, um… Sarah?"

"It's magic. Similar to wand magic. Unfortunately it's completely incompatible with the Gift." The cover story flowed from her lips without any serious thought, which was just as well, because the ambassador was getting suspicious. "The device captures the sounds emitted by a band and stores it like a magical memory of the performance. More enhanced versions of the magic can show a moving image of the band performing."

"How curious that the song that was played is called 'Doomsday', eh Messenger? Perhaps it is a sign?"

"Oh, now, enough of that." The Doctor interrupted what was bound to be a rude response from Sarah. "You trot around stepping on her feet all night, I'd dare say you're the one that has to worry about doomsday."

"Excuse me?"

Sarah gaped at the Time Lord. As such, she didn't notice the ambassador pull out a soft leather riding glove. "Oh, you heard me. The lass obviously has a set of skills that you couldn't match. If she decided to take offence to your treatment of her feet you'd be in deep- oh." He was cut off by the glove hitting him lightly on the face. Amusement sprung into his eyes. "Are you challenging me to a duel of some kind?"

"Do you accept, Sir Doctor of TARDIS?" The ambassador pressed.

"No, he doesn't." Sarah answered, at the same time as the Doctor said, "Yes, I do."

The woman rounded on him. "No, you don't."

"It's my choice, and I'm looking for a bit of fun around here. Wait… you don't duel to the death here, do you?"

"No, it's first blood-"

"Excellent!" He grinned, and she scrubbed her face, trying to hide her frustration.

"I'll be your proxy. We don't normally use them here, because people don't normally back out of a duel, but _you are going to_. When you back out, I'll finally get the chance to beat that smug look off of his face. I've been waiting years for this opportunity." She insisted.

"Really? Why couldn't you?"

"Jonathan banned me from challenging ambassadors. Everyone else, I get a free run at. But ambassadors are a no-no." She explained.

He pretended to think it over for a few moments, before shrugging. "Fine. You can fight in my place." The Doctor strode to the middle of the ballroom, yelling, "Proxy! I call upon my proxy to take my place in my duel against Sir Stick-Up-His-Rump-"

"That's 'Ambassador Stick-Up-His-Rump'." Sarah corrected, blithely ignoring the insult to the ambassador.

"_Ambassador_ Stick-Up-His-Rump. I forfeit… my cowardly ways do betray me! Proxy!" He yelled some more, and Sarah couldn't help the laugh that forced its way out of her throat.

"That's not how you do it, but I'd say they got the idea."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

There was a knock on Wildcat's door. She answered it, only to see Alanna standing there. "Sarah's dueling. I thought you'd like to know, since she stormed off so spectacularly yesterday."

"She doesn't want a match, she wants a punching bag."

"It looks that way."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

"So how's this going to work?" Abby asked, eager for any details.

Sarah was slipping her breastplate over her head, in preparation for the fight. The ambassador had called for full armor, probably in a hope of slowing her down. "That's right, you haven't seen me fight before, have you?"

"Don't wink or you will miss it." Ziva added, causing Sarah to pause.

"Blink, Ziva. Blink. And I don't intend on ending it that quickly. Like I told the Doctor, I've waited years for this." She tightened the strap on both sides of the armor, before continuing outfitting herself. Lastly, she grabbed her helmet and tucked it under her arm.

The armor felt unusual to her, it was only new, to replace the set she had lost in Ekallatum on her mission for the Goddess. It was just as light as her last set, but the fit was slightly different. She turned to pick up her shield and noticed a set of hands already holding it out for her. Alanna slipped it over her arm. Now the King's Champion spoke. "So you're dueling the Tyran. Finally."

"Blame the Doctor. He angered the man, and when he backed out of the duel he called me as his proxy. I couldn't possibly refuse." Sarah's face was innocent, earnest, and her mentor laughed.

"Did you organize this?"

"It just fell neatly into to place without me having to _try_." Sarah corrected.

"Will this get your defeatism out of your system, when you beat the living daylights out of this guy, or do we need to have another match after this one?"

"I'll stop making references to my inevitable demise until Mithros gets back to me." Sarah promised. "But no guarantees after that."

"That'll have to be good enough." Alanna nodded to her opponent, who was now waiting impatiently. "I think somebody's waiting for you."

"I do think you're right." Sarah agreed, a predatory look on her face. She put her helmet on and drew her sword, walking to the centre of the training fields. The minute she tried looking around she noticed a horrible flaw in her new armor. The visibility out of her visor was horrendous unless she was staring right at her target. _Crap. _She moved to take it off.

"I called for full armor, Messenger." The ambassador reminded her.

She glared, before dropping her hand. He'd noticed the visibility issue. When they both faced the King to bow, she couldn't get a glimpse of him. So when the crowd gasped, it was instinct that drove her to dive to the floor in a combat roll, coming up facing him. He'd taken a stab at her while she'd bowed.

"The Gods have finally given up on you, you blasphemous whore." He called. "And I intend to gain glory for myself and my country by killing you in their name!"

He lunged again, and Sarah dodged, kicking at the side of his knee as she passed. He staggered, and she whipped her helmet off, tossing it to the side. She held up a hand, forestalling any interference from Jonathan or the duel officiator. "Why'd you challenge the Doctor if it was me you wanted to kill?!"

"He was troublesome. I just wanted to teach him a little respect for his betters, but when he invoked that ancient rule of proxy, and you stepped forward, I knew the Gods had provided this opportunity for glory." The man had straightened, face still hidden by the visor of his helmet, sword held in a two handed grip.

She tugged at her left gauntlet with her teeth, keeping her sword in her right hand and held up to defend herself in case he decided to take another shot at her. "So that's why you wanted me in full armor. Because you knew it would slow me down, and because I'd have lower visibility with a visor."

"It pains me to say that even I, with the will of the Gods on my side, required such tricks to defeat your witchery."

"And yet here I stand, healthy as a horse, still alive and kicking." She retorted, before doing her other gauntlet. When she had finished she added, "Just a handy tip: if the Gods are gonna smite someone, they'll smite them. They don't need you to do it for them. Trust me when I say I've seen it."

Sarah glanced around the room, relying on the crowd's reaction to warn her of an impending attack. Gibbs looked murderous, and the expressions on the faces of Alanna and Wildcat matched. Shepard looked shocked at the whole situation, as did DiNozzo and McGee. Ducky was wary, Abby looked enraged, and Ziva… she just looked dangerous.

"Sarah." This was the Doctor. "Let me deal with him. It's me he challenged first." He began to step forward, but Sarah held up a hand, stopping him.

"I'm more qualified to fight him than you are, Doctor. This is what I do."

"You fend off assassination attempts?" He asked skeptically, and she shrugged, sending him half a grin.

"It's been known to happen. And often much more dangerous opponents than this twit."

His eyes widened, and she turned to face her enemy as he charged. Catching his blade on her hilt, she came face to face with the ambassador. "You made a mistake in trying this."

He didn't answer as she sidestepped, twisting her sword around his and forcing it to the ground. She held it there with one hand straining, as she used the other to rip his helmet off. Quickly she took a step back, giving her room to kick viciously at the hand holding his sword. She heard a crack as the man howled, dropping his sword to cradle his fingers. "A really big mistake."

She stepped forward and kicked his sword away from him, putting her own to his throat. "Now. Calm down, don't move and maybe I won't send you home in little itty boxes."

He raised his armored hands slowly, above his head. Sarah nodded to two guardsmen that had just appeared at the door of the training room, and in her moment of distraction the ambassador sent his hands crashing down onto her sword, pushing it away from his throat. He followed through with the moment with a backhand across her face. Unable to get her hand up in time to block, the blow left her reeling, and it was the cry of "Watch out!" That had her rolling to her left.

"Oh that's it." She growled as she stood, scooping up her sword as she ducked under a swipe from a dagger he'd procured from his weapon's belt. "You're going down-"

"Messenger." There was a crack and a blinding flash, and suddenly the ambassador was twenty feet away from her, looking around in confusion.

Mithros stood before her, her sword buried to the hilt in his chest. She made a face and pulled it out. "Watch where you're appearing next time."

"Watch who you're stabbing next time." He countered. A repetitive whirring noise sounded, and she glanced at the source.

A blue Police Box had materialized in the middle of the dueling gallery, slowly solidifying.

Sarah frowned. "You brought him here?"

"Yes."

"You could have saved him a lot of trouble if you'd just told me."

The God gave a miniscule shrug, and Sarah looked around him, at the ambassador, who was apparently stuck. "Your doing?"

"Yes."

"Thanks, but I'd have preferred to stab him."

"You're welcome." Mithros' voice was dry. "Now, come along."

"Come along where?" She asked pointedly.

"I asked my parents whether I could aid you in the defeat of my brother. It was no real shock to me when they said no, so I determined a way for you to defeat him yourself. It is inside the TARDIS."

But now the Doctor was examining the TARDIS, so when Mithros and Sarah appeared at the door, he frowned suspiciously. "What have you got planned?"

"Nothing. Mithros is the one with the plan. Apparently everything I need is in your pretty little ship."

He frowned again, but unlocked the door, and swinging it open with a flourish. "Yes, it's bigger-"

"On the inside. I know." Sarah rolled her eyes, turning to Mithros. "He thinks I've never seen a room like this before."

The God just gave her a disinterested stare.

The main section of the TARDIS was a decent size, open and almost devoid of anything other than a few chairs and a large centre console. Sarah saw corridors leading off of the room and figured it led to living quarters. Mithros was standing by the console, and Sarah made her way over to him.

The Doctor was staring at them both suspiciously. "What have you got planned?" He repeated.

"My Messenger requires the ability to defeat a foe that is beyond her. Your ship is the key."

"What?!" The man objected as realization crashed in his eyes. "You can't! Sarah, step away from that console, right now!"

Sarah glanced between Mithros and the Doctor. "Doctor, if Mithros says this is the only way to defeat Yahzed and save the lives of all of the innocent people he's going to kill-"

"Do you even know what you're about to do?" He asked, grabbing hold of her arm.

"Not a clue. But I … trust Mithros." She screwed up her face at the words, wondering where they had come from.

Before the Doctor had a chance to argue, Mithros had guided Sarah so she was standing in front of the console. Suddenly, a hatch popped open, revealing a brilliant golden light. Sarah's eyes widened as she fell inwards, the power clawing through her body, burning every cell. She threw her head back and screamed.

TBC…

This story has really come together over this past week… which is really bad, because I'm already behind on uni work. And it's only the second week... But when it writes itself the ideas are too distracting for me to do any real work on uni anyway!

So I've got the next chapter and a half already written, except for a few key scenes (I'm regretting the choice to write what was going on in the Star Wars universe as well in this story, because it never comes together as quickly as the rest… of course, now that I've got a new DVD player [my old one broke, grr…] I can get the inspiration back by putting Return of the Jedi on!)

In other words, the chapters are coming more regularly, but I've still got a way to go. At least another three or four chapters, after this one.

Thank you for reading!

Now review!


	19. Chapter 19

A/n. I was really bored tonight, so I thought, screw it, I'll update. I'm going to regret it in a few weeks when my reservoir of pre-written story has run dry, but oh well. Thanks for the reviews people!

And of course, reviews for this chapter are more than welcome!

SPOILER ALERT: there are spoilers for Law and Order SVU S09E15 (Undercover) in this chapter, as well as probably a bunch of little spoilers for everything. But there's a big spoiler for SVU, so that's why I've put it in. But considering Mariska Hargitay one an Emmy in 2007, pretty much for the episode (her performance was chilling), anyone who watches the series probably (no guarantees!) already knows the event I'm spoiling.

But anyway, read on!

Chapter 19:

The golden light entered her body through her eyes, her nose and mouth. Sarah's jaw locked, her eyes squeezed shut, but still the power came. Too much power for her to handle.

The Adept mage tried to harness it, but it was wild. It wanted to harness her. As she struggled, images flashed before her eyes, too quickly to see. It was all absorbed into her mind, contributing to her pain. She dropped to her knees, clutching at the console to keep from writhing on the ground. The last semblance of self control she had left went towards a defense against the pain.

She gathered her Gift, as controlled a burst as she could manage, and her hands started glowing crimson behind the golden hues that were covering her entire body. The TARDIS didn't like that.

A force sent Sarah flying out of the TARDIS, and back into the banquet, where people had reacted to the sound of her hoarse screams and were gathering around the vessel. She hit the floor with a painful skid, before coming to a halt in the middle of the room, curled in a ball. She hadn't succeeded in escaping the golden light though. Or the images it brought. Her eyes opened, seeking a familiar face and finding Gibbs as he approached her slowly, warily. As she looked at him, she could see three of him. One, the present, was getting closer. The second seemed to be moving backwards, showing her every event connected with the man's past. The third was his future, branching off into thousands and thousands of Gibbs's, demonstrating the effect of every little action he might take, and those of the people he would encounter. The visions filled the room, and her head, becoming too much for her to handle. And the process repeated itself for every person, object and _particle_ in the room.

And then she looked to the Doctor.

If she had thought the pasts and futures of everyone and everything in the ballroom was too much to handle, the Doctor took it to a new extreme. Through him she saw _everything_. The entire universe. "Sarah, look at me." He ordered as he pushed Gibbs aside. "Look at me."

He moved to grab her, but she blinked, and suddenly she was standing ten feet away. "No, Doctor." Her voice echoed, almost as though there was a second entity speaking through her. "I cannot give this power up so freely."

"The power's going to kill you!" The Doctor shouted, and Sarah briefly saw an echo of him yelling that at a blonde woman, enveloped in the same power that was choking her. "You've got the entire Time Vortex running through your head-"

"I can see everything. All of history. All that can be. All that _will _be." At this, she glanced at the ambassador she had been fighting before the TARDIS had materialized. He had used the distraction she had caused to slide a thin knife from under his wrist gauntlet. He moved to slash the throat of one of the guards that were much too busy watching _her_. Raising a hand, the weapons disintegrated. In its place appeared a string of diamonds, created from the subatomic particles left by the knife, and already programmed to communicate between dimensions. She clenched her fist, and the ambassador flew into the wall. "And all that will _not_ be."

The diamonds had disappeared, only to reappear as a bulge in Sarah's pocket. "Nobody's meant to know that!" The Doctor insisted, coming closer. She glanced at him, and he was frozen in place. "It'll kill you!"

"This mortal body is dying, you are not wrong." She confirmed. Sarah held an arm in front of her face, watching the golden light moving under her skin. The barest of thoughts, and the scars on her arm disappeared, leaving fresh, unblemished skin. She didn't need to look to see the rest of the scars, new and old, disappear. "This is the only way to save the Earth."

"Sarah, if it's killing you, let it go. We'll find another way." Jonathan said as he moved a little closer.

She stared at her King. "There is no other way."

The Lord Provost noticed her attention to the ruler, and moved to shield him with his body. Jon pushed him aside. "I trust her with my life."

"One day that statement will be literal." Sarah revealed, unable to help herself. "I can see the day you die."

"Not too soon, I hope." He tried for humor, coming just a little closer.

She gave him the full force of her stare. "The first time will be too soon."

"First time?" The King's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

She ignored the query. "Great enemies resurface, those thought defeated. Betrayal from an ally, the necromancer cannot be taken."

There were murmurs at this, but Sarah didn't listen. She had to get the message out while she still could. "False Gods, destroying the unbelievers. Knowledge. Such knowledge."

"It's too much for you." The Doctor tried, calmer than before but still tense. "It's burning you from the inside out."

"It will burn my enemy before I succumb." She replied, before raising her arms. A golden glow encompassed part of the group, and suddenly, they were gone.

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They reappeared back in autopsy, at NCIS. Everyone that had originated in that dimension, as well as Alanna, the Doctor and his TARDIS. And Sarah.

"Sarah, let it go." The Doctor tried once more, before noticing the man standing in the middle of the room, frozen in time. He had a younger man in blue scrubs held up in the air with a hand around his throat.

"Jimmy!" Abby yelled, but she couldn't be heard. Time was still frozen.

Sarah held up a hand, and the young man disintegrated, only to recombine among the group, in the same position he had been hanging in. His throat was red, his face frozen in shock and pain, his glasses askew.

And suddenly, time seemed to start up again, as Marsh's body spun on the spot to stare at the group with such malice and hate that it would have made Sarah flinch. If she hadn't already seen his reaction, and the following events, moments earlier when she had first absorbed the power of the Time Vortex. "Mithros has given you his power? Our parents would not allow it!"

"It is not the power of the Sun, or the Moon. It is the power of the universe itself. The power of the great ones, the same power from which your parents were borne. You cannot hope to defeat me." Sarah intoned, voice devoid of all emotion bar a trace of victory.

"You cannot utilize that power properly, mortal." Yahzed spat, striding towards the group. "You still don't stand a chance against me."

Sarah seemed to turn to dust, which traveled towards the God, before she recombined behind him. He spun, magic gathered in his palm to destroy her. "If you kill me, you'll have no hope of gaining this power for yourself."

He stared at her for a moment, before his eyes narrowed. The magic dissipated as he stepped forward, grabbing her arm harshly. His other hand splayed against the side of her face, and Marsh's face screwed up in concentration.

Sarah felt something tugging at the power coursing through her body, and she let it go. It left her in a vicious torrent, causing her face to contort in pain. As the power left her she saw a flash of the Doctor, in his ninth incarnation, removing the power from his companion in a much gentler manner, but she didn't dwell on the fact. If Yahzed had tried, it would have involved kissing her. She preferred the pain.

Her throat locked as her teeth clenched, trying her hardest not to scream, and finally it was over. The power was gone from her body, and into Yahzed's stolen carcass. She sagged in his hold, catching her breath even as the power coursing through his body burnt her arm, where his grip had tightened.

"Oh dear God." Ducky murmured. "He has all of her power. We need to get out of here."

"Not without Sarah." Alanna objected.

"Not without Gibson." Gibbs spoke at the same time, nodding to the door. "You all get out of here, I'll get her."

"Not gonna happen boss." DiNozzo shook his head, staring as the God settled into his new power. The others murmured similar sentiments.

"Doctor Mallard, what's going on?" Jimmy Palmer asked, scared. "I came in here, and that guy was standing there, next I know he's got me by the throat, and suddenly I'm here, alive."

"I'll explain if we make it out of this, Mister Palmer." Ducky answered distractedly.

Gibbs started forward. Yahzed raised a hand, and they were all frozen in place. "You all made a mistake in coming back."

There was pained laughter coming from the woman held loosely in Yahzed's grip. "And you just made the biggest mistake of your existence."

"What do you mean?" He asked, yanking her to her feet, replacing the grip on her arm with a grip on her throat. He gave her a violent shake for good measure. "What do you mean?"

Sarah choked when she tried laughing again. "You think Marsh's body can handle _your_ power _and _the power of the Time Vortex? My body was dying just from the few moments I had to handle the Vortex, and my body has been trained over the last few years to cope with my own power. Marsh wasn't used to it when you took over, and he certainly can't handle this."

Yahzed gave a roar full of fury, before sending a backhand crashing into Sarah's jaw. She went flying across the room, her legs clipping an examination table, flipping her over before she collided with the steel drawers that lined the wall. She fell to the floor, limp.

The God surveyed his own body, watching as the skin on his arms seemed to rupture. Finally, he threw his head back, releasing the power he had stolen as he left Marsh's dead body. The power of the Time Vortex drifted back into through the open doors of the TARDIS, and the God reappeared in the middle of the room.

He turned on Sarah, ready to deliver the final blow, when reinforcements arrived. The Goddess and Mithros both appeared, thunder on their faces. "You attempted a coup of our lands, brother."

"Just a coup of your Messenger." Yahzed snarled.

"You were forbidden from interfering with her." The Goddess reminded him, her voice howling. The conscious mortals clapped their hands over their ears as the words crashed over them.

"Because you want her all for yourself!"

"The missions you wanted her for were not sanctioned by the whole." Mithros said dangerously.

"Neither was sister's, when she sent the Messenger to the doomed land!"

"Which was why we acted prematurely when we struck down the corrupt monarchy." Mithros returned. "You have interfered in our realm, brother. You have killed those that dwell here. That is forbidden."

"Only if you are caught." Yahzed shot back.

"And caught you have been, my son." This voice seemed to originate from everywhere, and nowhere all at once. The air became oppressive, almost hard to breathe.

The look of genuine fear that passed on Yahzed's face caused Tony to call out, "Uh oh, someone's getting a spanking." The glares that were turned upon him by the deities caused him to shut up.

"Mother , I submit that I have a right to the use of our Messenger-"

"You do not. We have long since been opposed to the idea of a single mortal used to interfere with the crossroads of all realms. We allow it only because our eldest and wisest children determine where their Messenger is sent. You must respect your brother's decision." The voice ordered, and Yahzed's eyes narrowed.

"I refuse-"

"Such insolence will not be tolerated. Be gone." With a sudden flash of light the God was gone, and the heaviness to the air and disappeared.

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As soon as they were able to move again, Alanna had rushed straight to Sarah's side. The Goddess and Mithros had disappeared after Yahzed, leaving the mortals to their own devices. Carefully, Alanna cradled Sarah's head in her hands, closing her eyes and drawing upon her Gift.

Ducky had followed, now he peered into Sarah's eyes, holding first one open, then the other. Alanna opened her eyes after a moment. "Doctor Mallard, I understand you're a medical professional, but I can help her more than you can right now."

"How badly is she hurt?" He wanted to know.

"She has a rather bad concussion, but nothing that I can't deal with. Her body's exhausted, starved of nutrients. It's like she used all of her energy just surviving long enough to trick Yahzed. Her Gift is untouched, but she's not a healer. She has to do it the hard way." Alanna explained, settling down once more to heal her friend.

"But if she's not a healer, what happened to all of her scars?" Ducky pressed.

Alanna opened her eyes once more, lips pursed. "I don't know."

"She used the power of the Time Vortex." The Doctor had approached at a more sedate pace, after making sure the TARDIS had accepted the power back without harm. "A human can do anything when they've got that power. I once knew a woman who took the words 'Bad Wolf' and scattered them throughout time and space."

"Why?" Ducky asked, dubious.

"To warn us." He answered simply, but didn't elaborate further. "We should call Sarah an ambulance. She'll need an IV started to get those nutrients back into her body."

"Right." Ducky stood to do just that, but Alanna grabbed his arm, eyes still closed.

"You do that and you'll be making an enemy for life. She hates hospitals. I'm here, I'll deal with her injuries. I can make her swallow broth and water, that will do for nutrition until she wakes up."

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"Where are we?" Jacen asked, skeptical.

"Varonat. I hid out here when I was on the run from the Empire. This is where Karrde and I first met." Mara explained as she tugged at the hood of his disguise. Certainly, Jawas weren't common on Varonat, but it was less obvious than three brunette children bearing a striking resemblance to the most public figures in the galaxy. She had opted for a less dramatic disguise, wearing a blaster on her hip and her lightsaber at the small of her back, and her vibrant hair was hidden under a hat. She was a little tall to be a Jawa. "I had a hideaway prepared in case Isard ever found me, in the jungle. It should still be there, and it's fully stocked with blaster carbines, ration bars and lamps with spare power cells. We can hide out there for at least a week before we have to consider making it back to the cities."

"And what if it takes more than a week to catch the Sith?" Anakin asked.

"Then I'll have had a week to plan." She answered without pause.

"Those ration bars must be years old." Karrde commented lightly from the wall he leaned upon, watching her brusque preparation of the children.

"They're ration bars, Karrde. They'll keep." Mara rolled her eyes at the man, although she knew what he was getting at. Kids needed variety, or they got antsy.

"I'll have Dankin pack you a survival kit. I'll make sure he includes flavor sachets for the rations." He didn't wait for her to answer as he left the cargo bay. They were going to take a shuttle Karrde would loan them down to the surface of the planet when they were ready to depart, one that was fast enough and well armed enough that if it came to fighting they're way out, they'd stand a chance.

Mara surveyed the children once more before giving them a nod. "You're ready."

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"Colonel Celchu, if you hadn't already received almost every medal for bravery known to the Republic, I'd have to put you up for one." Leia commented evenly as she watched a team of analysts work on the navicomputer the pilot had almost died saving. "But…"

"But it was the kind of stunt that gets a man demoted down to Flight Officer." Wedge finished with a glower. "What were you thinking?"

"General Antilles, may I speak freely?" Tycho asked. Wedge nodded, so he continued. "I've known you long enough, Wedge, to know that is _exactly_ what you would have done, if you didn't just pilot a datapad these days. We needed this. A pirate group that we only knew about _after_ they made a big and public move? We needed the information on their base location. Now we just have to wait for the analysts to get the coordinates we need."

"I know, Tycho. The analysts think it will take a couple of days to crack the encryption – apparently it's quite sophisticated for pirates." The General rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "And you're right. I probably would have pulled the same stupid stunt. But I expected it from one of the Wraiths, not you."

"They weren't close enough." Tycho shrugged, before turning to Leia. "President Organa Solo, have you heard from Winter?"

"She's on assignment." Leia answered with a shake of her head. "I haven't heard from her since it started. I'm sorry, Colonel. And I thought I told you to call me Leia. Winter's as good as a sister to me, Colonel. That makes _you_ as good as a brother-in-law."

He shrugged, uncomfortable. "Winter still calls you-"

"I think she calls me 'President' to tease more than anything, Colonel." Leia interrupted dryly.

"Well, if I'm to call you L-Leia, then you should call me Tycho." The man suggested, and Leia nodded.

"Tycho."

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**A/N. I was informed by a helpful reader that Washington DC is actually on the same coast as NYC. I had always thought so, but when I wrote this story I thought 'oh, I better research this, just in case, because I don't want to look like a dumb foreigner'. Of course, when I researched it, I saw that Washington (the state) is on the other coast to New York, and forgot that the city isn't in the state… so I am amending this mistake NOW. Washington is now on the correct side of the United States of America, thank you for your patience, I'll fix the start of the story when I get around to it. Also, I know it may seem that I'm marrying off characters left right and center, but it's all canonical, I swear it!**

"She planned it all." Alanna realized with a start. Shortly after she had defeated Yahzed, Sarah had been transported to Gibbs' house, in secret. She'd been lying on the bed in his spare room for two days.

"Planned what all?" A voice asked from the doorway, and Alanna looked up sharply.

"Detective Benson?! What are you doing here?" The redhead made to stand, but the other woman waved her back into her seat.

"Special Agent Gibbs was kind enough to call and tell us what had happened with Yahzed. I was due in court yesterday, so I only got the chance to come down and visit this morning." Olivia replied, moving further into the room. "He wasn't very forthcoming with how she did it."

"None of us really know." Alanna sighed, before amending, "Well, the Doctor does, but he's keeping quiet. All we know is that she absorbed some kind of power, a power that was too big for her to handle, and then tricked Yahzed into taking it himself."

"So she planned to lose some great power that she probably could have used to defeat Yahzed herself? Isn't that a bit risky?" Olivia asked with a wince. It was a reckless plan at best.

"The power was killing her." Alanna explained. "And she's had extensive training in handling power. She was correct in her assumption that Theodore Marsh didn't, so she knew that when he took the power, Marsh's body would burn up quicker than hers. And I can only assume she brought me because she could see what was going to happen. Every possible outcome from every possible action. She saw the massive concussion Yahzed was going to give her and acted to avoid ending up in hospital." At this, the redhead's mouth quirked into a small grin.

"Yeah…" A small voice said from the only bed in the room. "I saw it all. I knew it would be safe enough to bring the NCIS agents, and I needed them to explain what happened while I recovered." Sarah's voice was hoarse, and at the end of her explanation, she burst into a coughing fit, hacking painfully. When Alanna had helped her drink some water, she tried a grin. "So, Liv, what brings you here?"

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"What was with those cryptic messages?" DiNozzo asked from behind his desk at NCIS. They'd been back to work since the day after Yahzed had been banished, and he'd asked the question several times in the last couple of days. But this was the first time he'd asked in the presence of the Doctor.

"She was warning everyone of the things to come. Handing out spoilers like lollies at Halloween." He didn't look happy about it. "Life's meant to be full of surprises. You're not supposed to know what comes next! But now everyone knows about traitors and necromancers and death!"

"Yeah, I get that." DiNozzo rolled his eyes at McGee, who was trying to suppress a grin. The Doctor had been tagging around with the agents, even though he had the ability to leave. The TARDIS was now parked in Gibbs' back yard. He wouldn't come out and say it, but he was concerned about Sarah's wellbeing. "What I meant was, why was it so cryptic? Why not just say 'on July twenty first, in the year twenty ten, you'll win the lotto'? Instead of that rubbish about necromancers and… stuff."

"That was the only way her mind could process what she was seeing. In its purest form, unfiltered by human views. She translated it to the simplest explanation, but it was still much too difficult for you to understand. And if you remember even the slightest bit incorrectly, while you're trying to decipher it, you could end up with a completely incorrect explanation."

"That's why we wrote it down." McGee said seriously.

"You _what?!_" The Doctor shouted. "You should just forget it! There are things you're not supposed to know!"

"I wrote them down for _Sarah_. I figured she'd want to know what she had said while she was all 'Time Vortexy', as Abby puts it." McGee elaborated calmly. "I'm not even going to _try_ to figure it out. Any idiot can see most of it was about magic and enemies she's faced. I don't know the first thing about either."

The Doctor just narrowed his eyes, still not happy.

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"What do you remember?" Alanna asked as she watched Sarah eat. Olivia sat on her other side.

"Not much. Images, really." Sarah shrugged, talking around a mouthful of food. "Occasionally I'll get flashes of something. A set of four three-digit numbers keep popping up."

"You should just forget them." The Doctor spoke up from the doorway. He'd just arrived with Gibbs from the naval yard.

"Hello." Olivia interrupted Sarah's response. "I don't think we've met. I'm Detective Olivia Benson, who might you be?"

"The Doctor." He gave her a distracted nod, before turning back to Sarah. "You should forget it all."

"It could be useful." Sarah argued.

"It could spoil everything."

"That's too bad."

He sighed, moving into the room, glancing around. "Nice wall paper."

A sudden realization hit Sarah. "It was Kelly's room."

"Who?"

"My daughter." Gibbs was at the door now, staring at Sarah. "And that's private business."

"Liv, Alanna, would you leave us for a moment?"

"You too, Doctor." Gibbs gave him a nod out the door, as the two women left the room.

"Sarah wants me here." The Doctor argued petulantly.

"I saw both of you." She said suddenly. "Tragedies, in both of your pasts. You both lost your families. Gibbs, the Doctor lost his entire _species._ You're more alike than you think."

Gibbs stared at her. "You're lucky you're an invalid, or I'd kick you out of my house for that."

"Gibbs." Sarah shook her head. "I saw it. I saw it all. Your life was one of the _first_ things I saw. I remember more of it than anything else."

"That's my personal life." He ground out.

"I remember more, but that doesn't mean I remember a lot." She flapped a hand at him. "A couple of flashes of you in some kind of military uniform, a little bit of you getting blown up-"

"The first or second time?" He asked.

"I _want_ to say the second time." Sarah frowned in concentration. "Yeah, I think it's the second. Or the third."

"Third?" His eyes widened slightly, and Sarah winced.

"I may be mistaken… or the third time hasn't happened yet?" She shook her head. "Never mind. The point is, you're not the only person in the history of the universe to lose your family." Her voice was very small at the end of the statement, and she looked down at her lap. "And your family doesn't have to die to lose them."

"You lost your family." Gibbs pried gently, his mood swinging almost as rapidly as the Doctor's.

"I saw them." She replied morosely. "Living their lives without me. And it reminded me that I got over it. I moved on. And in a way… that was worse."

"Is that why you asked the Doctor and I to stay?" Gibbs asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

The mattress sank where he sat, and Sarah shifted in an attempt to stay where she was. "No. I didn't intend to tell you. It just came out. I just wanted you to know that I understand your loss, and that you shouldn't have threatened to quit your job when Director Shepard questioned your objectivity."

"You saw that too?" He asked, amused.

"I remember more of your recent life than the rest." She admitted. "Still not much, but that was pretty vivid."

"Your family was foolish to let you go." The Doctor broke his silence on the matter.

Gibbs didn't react to that statement, he just stared at Sarah. Growing uncomfortable with the attention, she shrank into the bed. "I'm a little tired… would you mind…?"

"Of course not. Get some sleep." The Doctor answered, before nodding at the door. Gibbs turned his stare on the Doctor for a moment, waiting for the Time Lord to leave first.

When they were alone, Gibbs turned back to Sarah. "He's not wrong about your family."

Sarah's eyes widened at the implied compliment, before she stuttered a quick, "Thanks."

He stood without another word and left the room, closing the door behind himself. She rolled over, trying to go to sleep, but all she could think about was Gibbs' last statement. So when Alanna came in to check on her, she was still staring at the wall, confused.

"How are you feeling?" The healer asked.

Sarah gave a noncommittal shrug. "Could be worse."

"Could be better?" Her friend guessed, and Sarah sent her a wry grin.

"That's one way to put it."

"Do you need help getting to sleep? You still need more rest."

Sarah thought the offer over for a moment before shaking her head. "I'll be fine on my own."

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**SPOILERS START HERE, IT'S NOT DETRIMENTAL TO THE STORYLINE TO SKIP!**

"So, Liv, how have things been at the SVU since we left?" Sarah asked as they leant over the handrail of the stairs leading down to Gibbs' basement.

"You left two days ago, and you've been back in this dimension since about three hours after you first left." Olivia replied dryly. "Not much has changed."

Gibbs pushed past the two women silently, making his way down the stairs to the half finished boat that sat in the middle of the room. "Well, I don't know. Things happen quick sometimes."

Gibbs had picked up a hammer, running his hands along the wooden frame. "Only when you're around." Olivia muttered, casting a glance at Sarah. When he came across a part he wasn't satisfied with, he started hammering.

Sarah had been looking at Olivia when Gibbs began, so she noticed when Olivia jerked violently with each strike. "Liv?!"

Gibbs had stopped at Sarah's shocked question, looking up at the two women. Olivia was staring off into space, a blank look on her face. Sarah grabbed her arm, spinning her around, and had to duck suddenly to avoid being slugged. "Whoa, Liv, Liv, calm down." She grabbed the detective's other arm, hugging them both to her side, and backed into the wall to keep them both from falling down the stairs. Olivia struggled for a moment, before gasping. "Olivia?"

Her rapid breathing quietened, and she pulled away shakily. Without a word, she pushed past Sarah, into the house. Wide eyed, Sarah looked to Gibbs. The man's face was unreadable as he said, "She's got PTSD. The hammer set her off."

Sarah's eyes narrowed, and she stood. She didn't bother asking how Gibbs knew – she'd seen part of his life, he probably knew from firsthand experience. Sarah followed Olivia's path, searching for the woman. She hadn't heard the front door close, so she had to assume the woman was still in the house.

She found Olivia in the room she'd been sleeping in, perched on the bed, hands gripping the mattress tensely. "Liv?"

"I'm fine." The words came out too quickly, and Sarah frowned.

"No you aren't." She said simply. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Olivia took a deep breath, brushing the hair out of her face. She tried a smile on Sarah, but it didn't work.

"Ahuh. Look, if you lot can go all Dr Phil on me, then I can do the same to you. Tell me what's wrong." Sarah pressed. Olivia stood to walk out of the room, but Sarah's next words stopped her. They were quiet, but in the near silent room Olivia could hear them clearly. "When the Martians attacked me, it was the most horrible experience of my life. I've been assaulted, tortured, beaten almost to death… And what the White Martians did to me was still worse." She sank tiredly onto the bed, and Olivia sat next to her, careful to keep her distance, watching Sarah carefully. "It was so much worse."

"How do you cope?" Olivia asked gently. Sarah thought she heard a trace of hope, hope for a solution.

"I don't." She gave a small laugh at this. "I just don't. Every time something happens, I bury it. Time was, I'd get over it eventually. This, though… it was too much."

"'Was'?"

"When I absorbed the Time Vortex I saw… everything. All the horrors of the universe, and all the beauty. It put things in perspective." Sarah shrugged. "Of course, that was then, this is now. And I don't have the Time Vortex to bury my problems anymore. It's worse than it ever was. I haven't had any nightmares or night terrors lately because Duke Baird had a really, _really_ strong sleepy tea, and the last couple of days have been spent recuperating. When I'm back to full strength, which I'm judging will be after my next decent meal, the way I'm feeling now, then the terrors will come back. It's like I can feel them roaming around under the surface, waiting for the chance to come back."

"You should talk to someone about this."

Sarah gave Olivia an incredulous look. "I know you're not that dumb. I know you know I'm _talking_ to you about this. Besides – pot… kettle… black much?"

"I'm fine." Olivia insisted, her voice stronger this time.

"You have got to be the worst liar I have _ever_ met." Sarah returned lightly. "And have you met the Doctor? He's guileless."

The detective was silent for a moment, and Sarah thought she'd misjudged her. The only reason she'd said so much as a word about the invasion was to get the other woman to open up. But if she wouldn't, then it was a wasted exercise. "A few months ago I went undercover in a prison, as a drug addicted felon. I was trying to catch this creep, one of the guards, who had raped the daughter of an inmate." Sarah had a horrible idea as to where this was going, but she didn't voice them, giving Olivia's arm a squeeze in silent encouragement. "I found the perp. Or, rather… he found me."

"You were found out?"

Olivia shook her head. "The rapist led me away from the main cell block in the guise of taking me to the hole for inciting a riot-"

"You did what now in a prison?" Sarah couldn't help the words that left her mouth. To her relief, Olivia didn't stop in her story. She just sent Sarah a small grin, before continuing.

"He didn't take me to the hole. Fin was undercover as a guard at the time, as my backup. He found me before Harris got too far-"

"Define 'too far'." Sarah ground out.

"He's in prison now, Sarah." Olivia replied. "And if he turned up dead, I'd be the prime suspect-"

"'Cause all the felons he's probably assaulted in prison wouldn't have had anything to do with it." The knight retorted, before yawning widely, and wincing.

"I'm keeping you up." Olivia realized, standing. "You still need your rest."

"I'm fine." Sarah insisted, standing as well. "And I want you to know you can talk to me about anything."

"I know." Olivia replied with a small smile. "We make a real pair, don't we?"

"Sure do." Sarah replied, before a dangerous smile crossed her face. "What I said just before, about telling me anything? That counts for his court appearances for any appeals he might try, or parole dates when it comes to that."

Olivia sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"Sit there and glare at him." Sarah answered cheerfully. "Perhaps with my little 'hands on fire' display. And if anyone tries to call order to the court, I'll just be like, 'who, me?' and I may even go into a long spiel about what would happen to the man who had tried to rape my friend if he were in Tortall. Gory details and all. It'll end in a hanging. Or beheading. Depends on what you'd prefer."

Liv couldn't help the small laugh that forced its way out of her mouth. "Thanks, Sarah. Now get some sleep."

"Yes sir!" Sarah mock saluted, before settling onto the mattress. "I'm not going to argue today. Watch, not arguing."

"Because if you do you won't recover as quickly, and won't be able to help out those kids' parents as soon. Am I right?"

"You know me too well." Sarah groused, before rolling onto her side and closing her eyes. She expected to hear the sound of Olivia's feet taking her from the room, but the room was silent save for her breathing.

"Why did you heal your scars?" The detective's voice was hushed, and Sarah had to strain to hear it.

Sarah considered not answering, pretending to be asleep. Instead, she answered just as quietly, "For a fresh start."

**SPOILERS FINISH… SO DOES THE CHAPTER **

TBC…

There we go! Early for a change!


	20. Chapter 20

A/n… this link is absolutely hilarious. It's about monkeys and their ability to plan. Anyone who actually reads msn news will know, but if you don't here's the link…

**./technology/769248/angry-chimp-proves-animals-can-plan**

Chapter 20:

"How's Liv?" Gibbs asked, not looking at Sarah as he carefully sanded out a microscopic imperfection on the bow of the half finished boat.

"She talked to me a little." Sarah replied with a shrug. "Which is more than I expected from her. But I'm not a psychiatrist, so I don't know how she is, not really."

Gibbs smirked a little. "And what did you have to give up to get her to talk?"

Sarah's eyes narrowed. "You're a perceptive bastard, you know that?"

He just kept sanding, the smirk still on his face. "And you're terrible at hiding things, Gibson. Hand me that chisel."

The knight turned around, looking for the tool. She couldn't pick it out among the pile, so Gibbs pushed past her, picking up a bit of flat metal with a wooden handle, shaking his head.

"What? What use have I had for tools in the last few years?" Sarah snapped. "None!"

"I didn't say anything." He returned, humor in his voice. It seemed like he was about to say more, but he simply looked up, to the landing of the stairs. Sarah followed his gaze, to see Abby leaning over the rail.

"Gibbs! You didn't tell me you were working on another boat? What's this one going to be called?" The forensics expert asked, before she bounced down the stairs, much too energetic. It cast a stark contrast to her behavior in her final days in Tortall – Sarah guessed she had found the nearest Starbucks and depleted their supplies completely.

"Another one?" Sarah asked. "How many of these things have you built? And how do you get them out?"

Gibbs just shrugged. "A few." He didn't answer her other question, which Sarah took as an 'I don't know'.

"Well I can get it out for you, when it's done. If you'd like." She offered, and he looked at her like she'd grown another head. She blinked. "You've never gotten one out of the basement before, have you?"

He just shook his head, and Sarah sent Abby a questioning glance. The other woman shrugged, before her stare turned entirely too serious for Sarah's liking. "So. I'm writing a book. I need some quotes."

"I beg your pardon?" Sarah asked dubiously.

"I'm writing a book on Tortall and our experience there. I need some quotes and some background." From out of nowhere a notepad and a pen appeared in Abby's hand. "King Jonathan used to have sex with Lady Knight Alanna of Pirate's Swoop, didn't he?"

Sarah spluttered for a moment, caught completely off guard. "_What_?"

"You know… it's going to be mostly about the political angles in the country. Like, how is it that Queen Thayet and Alanna are friends, but Alanna is Jonathan's ex-lover, and-"

"Where the hell did you hear that? Who told you that?" Sarah finally recovered enough to ask. "And you are _not_ putting it in a book! That's their private lives!"

Abby pouted. "It was obvious from their interaction behind closed doors. And why can't I put it in there-"

"Abby. That isn't public knowledge back home. It shouldn't be public knowledge here."

A sharp voice from behind them cut the Goth off before she could argue any further. "No, it's not public knowledge. And it's going to stay that way."

Sarah winced, turning around slowly. "I was just explaining that, Alanna."

The redhead didn't pay her any attention, glaring at Abby. "I'll thank you to keep your observations to yourself." The Lioness was living up to her name with the glare she sent the forensics expert. "In fact, if you were to publish anything about my relationship with my _King_, I'd be inclined to-"

Sarah cleared her throat, having seen Abby's eyes go wide and Gibbs stop work at the perceived threat to one of his women. "Alanna, she gets the point. She's not going to include anything about you or Jonathan or Thayet or any theories about love triangles or _any_ of that. She promises. Don't you Abby?"

"Yep." Was her short response.

Alanna didn't look satisfied, but let it go. "That was a life time ago, anyway. Everyone makes mistakes."

Abby perked up at the last statement. "Mistakes? What mistakes?" A quick glare from Alanna put a downcast expression on her face. "Fine. No mistakes. No publishing. I guess there won't be a book-"

"Now we never said that." Sarah tried cheering her up. "You can write about all sorts of things. Uh… the social structure of the old nobility versus the new. And… uh… the… uhm… the differences between the culture there and here."

"Ooh! The Court of the Rogue-"

"You met Marek _once_-"

"Twice. He was in the war room when we got there." Abby corrected automatically. "And _you_ know him well. It's that, or I go back to that Alanna thing-"

"Fine!" Sarah snapped. "I'll let you interview me all about the Rogue, and I'll either tell you the answers or find them out for you. But you've got to wait, because I plan on finding Leia and helping her kil-_ find_ the men that kidnapped Jacen, Jaina and Anakin, very soon."

"Why haven't you gone yet?" Gibbs asked. He hadn't resumed working on the boat since Alanna's threat to his close friend.

Sarah's eyes unfocused, as though staring into the distance. "It's not time yet. I've just got this feeling… I shouldn't go yet. I don't know. Ever since the Time Vortex took me over, I've been getting hunches, flashbacks, or flash-_forwards_. It's gotten less and less frequent since I first woke up. And I've got four numbers running through my head that I feel like I need to remember…" She shook herself, eyes flashing to each of the others, a grimace on her face. "It's… disconcerting, to say the least."

Gibbs stared at her for a few moments before turning back to his boat. "Your vocabulary's increased since then too."

Sarah just rolled her eyes.

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"Right. Well I guess I'll be off then." The Doctor said uncomfortably, tugging at his collar.

Sarah looked at the man for a moment. He seemed to almost regret leaving their company. Something, an idea of soul crushing loneliness, flashed in Sarah's memory, helping her to understand for a moment.

On the other hand, they_ had _imprisoned him. So perhaps it wasn't so understandable. "Surprised though I am to say this, it was a pleasure to meet you. And I'd like to thank you for your help." She held out a hand for him to shake.

Instead of shaking it, he grabbed her hand, holding it as though they were children in line at school, squeezing it softly. "It wasn't me, it was the TARDIS. And I take it back – you aren't _all_ stupid apes. In fact, you've got a pretty good head on your shoulders. You could… I mean, if you wanted to I could… well, I've got a vacancy for a companion-" Sarah choked on her breath, and he rushed to reassure her. "Not _that_ kind of companion, a travel companion! I could show you all of time and space-"

Sarah flinched. "I've seen it. I'd rather not do it again." She blurted without realizing the effect of her words.

"But you don't remember most of that." He argued, looking a little hurt that she'd reject the proposal offhand.

When she realized what her immediate refusal had done, she backpedalled quickly. "It's not that I wouldn't want to… it's just that-"

"You don't want to."

"No." She argued, before wincing. "Yes. A little. But I've got things that need doing, crisis's to avoid."

"Helloooo… TARDIS? _Time_ And Relative Dimension In Space-"

"I know." Sarah scrubbed the back of her neck for a moment. "I just don't think it's really… my thing, if you know what I mean."

He chose not to point out that from the very brief glimpse into her life that he'd seen, it seemed to be _exactly_ her kind of thing. Instead he nodded haltingly, before brightening suddenly. "I s'pose I'll stay to see you off. How soon 'til you leave?"

"Probably in a couple of hours." Sarah shrugged. "The feeling of urgency is getting stronger, but isn't quite… _right_, yet."

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"You're not strong enough." Alanna argued.

"You're being overprotective." Sarah retorted with a small smile. "I feel better than I have in ages. In fact, I daresay those days in bed have me back at one hundred percent. My Gift is topped up, the Graveyard Hag's _already_ taken her payment-"

"She has?" Alanna asked with a frown. That was the first she'd heard of _that_.

Sarah nodded, eyes distant. "Yeah. It was sometime when I was all glowy."

"You're beginning to sound like Abby." She warned, and Sarah winced.

"Thanks for that. Anyway, physically, I'm better than I've been since _before _the Sorrows last month. I can handle an itsy bitsy Dark Lord of the Sith." Her grin came to her easier than it had in ages. "Besides, I was getting bedsores."

They were in Gibbs' living room. The TARDIS was still out in his backyard, and the Doctor was watching the bickering like it was a professional tennis match.

"You don't know where they are." Alanna retorted triumphantly.

"Well…" Sarah drew out slowly. "That may be true, but I can still get to them. I saw something in the Time Vortex, something that I should be able to do with Mithros' pendant. I use my memories and feelings of a place to teleport, well I should be able to do the same with people. So long as I think of Leia, it'll get me to her."

"I suggested that when I told you you can teleport to Emelan – you just laughed at me." Alanna scowled.

"That was you saying it. This is me saying it. There's a difference."

"How?"

"Well… ooh! I forgot." She fished into her pocket and passed a diamond to both the Doctor and Alanna. "Now you can get in contact with me when I'm in other dimensions." That was said to her mentor. To the Doctor, she glowered. "If you get into any mischief and need a quick evac, all you need to do is _want_ to speak to me. And don't you dare mess around with it, I'm not making you another one if you break it by running tests. Now, Alanna, let's get you back to Tortall, so I can get going, okay?" Sarah grabbed her friend and focused on Corus. Before they could teleport, Gibbs walked into the room.

"Gibson. Ziva gave me this to give to you." He passed over a sheathed dagger, and Sarah grinned.

"Just what I've always wanted, how did she know?" Sarah asked with a grin, before turning the inner circle of her pendant with her Gift, sending them back to Corus. They appeared in Sarah's rooms, and Sarah let go of her mentor's arm.

"You could have let me say goodbye to everyone." Alanna groused.

"Time is of the essence. The sense of urgency just spiked." Sarah replied quickly before pulling out her amber pendant. "Hey, Leia?"

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Leia was standing at the back of the conference room where Wedge was briefing Wraith and Rogue Squadrons on the mission to the pirate base. So when the call of 'Hey, Leia' came through her communication diamond she kept in the pocket of the no-nonsense jumpsuit she was wearing, it drew stares from twenty four pilots and their commanding officer.

She sent Wedge an apologetic look before fishing the diamond out of her pocket and holding it to her mouth, speaking quietly. "Sarah, what can I do for you?"

"Where are you right now?" Sarah asked, voice impatient.

"On the _Mon Remonda._" Leia answered, concerned. "What's happened?"

"Nothing that's important at the moment. But I'm on my way." Sarah replied.

Leia's eyes widened. "Wait! We've got to drop out of hyperspace-" Sarah appeared in front of her before she'd finished… about six feet off the ground, "first."

Sarah landed on her backside and winced. "Ow. Hi."

"Are you okay?" Leia asked dubiously as she moved to help Sarah stand.

"Never better. How are you?" Sarah tried with a grin, but it faded at the frown on Leia's face.

"You transported when we were in hyperspace. I thought that was incredibly dangerous-"

"Oh, it is, if you're transporting to a place." Sarah nodded quickly. "But I recently found out that I can transport to people too, and that's a lot safer. I still need a bit of practice, as you might of guessed. But that's beside the point. I need a datapad." It was then that she noticed the group of people turned around in their seats, staring at her, some with shock and awe, others with dread. "Oh. Hi."

Garik Loran hid his face in his hands and groaned. Wedge looked mildly amused at the commander of Wraith Squadron's antics. "Miss Gibson. What can we do for you?"

"Any of you flyboys or flygirls got a datapad handy? I've got a set of coordinates in my head that I really need to get _out _of my head because they're causing the worst of migraines and I've got this sense of urgency that's making it worse-" She was cut off as a pilot, a swarthy green alien with tusks and a pig nose, wordlessly handed her a datapad. "Thanks. Gamorrean?"

"Yes." His voice came out mechanically, and Sarah frowned.

"How did I know that?" She turned to the rest of the pilots arrayed, pointing out each of the aliens. "Twi'lekki. Thakwaash. Devaronian. Gand. Bothan." They each nodded, and Sarah's frown deepened.

"I didn't know you knew so many different species in this galaxy." Leia began, concerned.

"I shouldn't. Hmm… I must have retained more knowledge than I thought when I absorbed the Time Vortex. That'd be contributing to the migraine." Sarah shrugged. "Oh well." She turned on the datapad in her hand and began typing rapidly into the device.

"Sarah?" Leia asked, moving closer to the woman. She'd never seen her use a device from that dimension so expertly, not including a blaster pistol.

"I know. It's a little disconcerting. But you see, recently I had all of the knowledge of the universe running through my head, and certain things stuck. I can tell you things you couldn't possibly comprehend-" Sarah looked up, wide eyed as she stared at Leia. "And now I sound like the Doctor. I am _so_ sorry. But here. These are the coordinates for the pirate's base. Are we going to hit them with a small group, just, say… me, you, Luke, Han and Chewie, guns 'a blazin', or are we going to be slowed down by the cavalry?"

"Slowed down?" Leia asked, glancing between Sarah and the pilots, who all wore expressions varying from amusement to annoyance at her comment.

"Yeah. Like by these guys." Sarah replied, seeing where Leia was going with the question and not caring. "Look, Leia, just take the ship out of hyperspace, point it towards these coordinates, and let's rock and roll."

"We're already on our way to the pirate's base." Face decided that if General Antilles wasn't going to intervene, he was. He stood to face Sarah. "So thank you, Miss Gibson, for rushing to help, but you're going to have to be 'slowed down' by us."

"These aren't the same coordinates as we're travelling towards." Leia interrupted Sarah's retort. "We've already investigated these, Han, Luke, Chewie and I. It was a trap."

"How hard did you look?" Sarah asked, aware that the tone of voice would be inappropriate if Leia wasn't a friend. There were a few gasps from the pilots, mostly from the Rogues who were more appropriate than the Wraith, but Sarah ignored them. "Leia, trust me. At the moment, I know things you couldn't possibly imagine. You're heading to the wrong place. How'd you get your information?"

"It was on the navicomputer as the final destination of a set of pirates we were following." This came from Colonel Celchu, who stood as well, a dark look on his face. "It took us days to decrypt the navicomputer we recovered."

"It's wrong." Sarah retorted stubbornly. A flash hit her, and she stumbled, arm outstretched to catch herself on the back row of seats in the conference room. "It's a trap." Her voice was strangled. Sarah coughed to clear it. "You're heading into a trap. The pilots were kamikaze pilots. They planted the coordinates, the encryptions…"

"You've never had visions before." Leia sounded confused as she moved to steady the young knight.

"That was before, this is now." Sarah shot back. "Take the ship out of hyperspace. It's a trap."

"How could you possibly know-" The Twi'lekki woman began, disbelief coloring her words, but Sarah interrupted her.

"A couple of days ago I absorbed the power of the Time Vortex – I saw everything that has ever happened in all the dimensions in existence and everything that ever might." Sarah replied, talking quickly. "I did that because it was the only way to defeat a God that wanted to either kill me or drive me insane – I was never really sure which one, but either way it doesn't matter because when it was all over I didn't have all that knowledge anymore, just little flashes, and they keep happening." She took a breath before continuing. "That was one of them – the level of intensity depends on the emotions they invoke, and my friends being ambushed is what caused that one to be a little more intense. We are headed into-" The ship shuddered, falling out of hyperspace too soon. "A trap." She finished simply.

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"Hey kid, good to see you." Han tossed over his shoulder as he rushed past. "You're staying on the _Mon_ _Remonda_."

"Why?"

"Because we're not planning on leaving the _Falcon_ and unless you learnt how to fire a quad laser cannon in your spare time you're a dead weight." He replied, not unkindly. "Stay on the _Mon Remonda_. We'll call you if we need you."

"Fine." Sarah groused.

"Don't worry, Leia's staying too." Han added. "It's safer here, and we still haven't gotten the laser cannon you were using repaired."

She watched as he ran up the ramp, even as it retracted. A moment later it took off, leaving Sarah staring after it.

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She found herself on the bridge, standing besides Wedge's chair as status reports were tossed around in near yells. Leia stood at his other side, and Sarah stared through the viewport, perturbed. "We're losing, aren't we?"

"No." Wedge ground out, standing. "Rogue and Wraith squadron are heading for the Interdictor Cruiser that pulled us out of hyperspace early. When they've taken it out, depending on our losses, they'll go after one of the capital ships or affect a retreat."

"How's it looking so far?" She asked. She had to wait for the man to issue a flurry of orders before he could answer.

"They got the drop on us, but only a single squadron of fighters were flying with us at the time, the rest were berthed. We experienced heavy losses to that squadron, but apart from that just minimal damage to the _Mon Remonda_ and _Allegiance_. They didn't plan this ambush the way I would have."

"How's that?" Sarah asked. She was aware her incessant questions were distracting the General, but something wasn't clicking. Something big was about to happen, and she needed to know the situation before then.

"Well. I would have planned it a lot better than they did." He explained. "I would have had a squadron of fighters with proton torpedoes just waiting for the capital ships to drop out of hyperspace. If the fighters did their jobs right, it'd be over in a matter of minutes."

"Maybe they didn't have the equipment-"

"Sir. We just received a distress call from the _Millennium Falcon_. They've crash landed planet side."

Sarah sent a shocked look at Leia, who's eyes were wide. "Luke's blocking me."

"I'm going." Sarah's voice brooked no nonsense, but Wedge spun and grabbed her arm.

"When you appeared earlier it was in a room full of trusted New Republic officers. We want to keep the people who know about your abilities to a minimum. You need to wait for a ship to take you down."

About to argue, Sarah saw Leia's face. It was serious, but full of agreement with Wedge. "Fine, but make it snappy. Leia, you coming with?"

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Since Leia had decided to go with Sarah on her rescue mission, and the Interdictor Cruiser had been destroyed, Wedge recalled all but two flights of Wraith Squadron to escort them down to the surface. One Flight would be manning the shuttle, Two Flight would be flying cover for them.

Sarah, once again stuck in an observing role, was grumbling in her seat. Leia had given her a gentle look when she'd moved for one of the operations posts and told her it would be best if the Wraith handled the actual piloting. To which Face had given her a triumphant smirk, and the blonde woman, Tyria Sarkin, had sent her a look she could only interpret as sympathy. Myn Donos, a Corellian pilot, had passed her a rifle case. "Don't drop it."

Sarah contemplated dropping it for the sake of dropping it. Instead she put on a high pitched girly voice, shoving it back at the man. "You trust me with your fancy gun? Oh, how honored I feel! I wouldn't dream of dropping it Lieutenant, never!"

"You need to work on your acting." Face advised as he started the powerup checklist.

"Don't make me take this to the training room floor, flyboy. I'll kick your arse back to Pantolomin." Sarah shot back.

"How did you-"

"Don't ask. I don't know." She shook her head, but the fourth member of the Wraith had listened with interest to her threat.

"You think you can beat a man trained by the New Republic as a commando in a fight?" Shalla Nelprin asked, a lazy grace to her body as she took her seat in control of the turbolasers. "I know you're supposed to be good, but are you that good?"

"And this is where you challenge me to a fight because you think you're so much better, is that it?" Sarah asked, rolling her eyes at Leia. "Because when this is all over, I'll take you up on that."

"Deal." Shalla replied, before wincing. "Sorry for ignoring you, Chief of State Organa Solo-"

"Sarah has that affect on people, Lieutenant Nelprin." Leia assured, before sending Sarah a warning glance. "Behave yourself."

"Fine. I'll direct my frustration at any pirates we come across, not pilots in your armed forces."

"Good."

They took off, and the ship settled into an awkward silence, interrupted only by the occasional beep as someone changed a setting or pressed a button.

"Is Luke still blocking you?" Sarah asked, breaking the silence.

"He stopped when they landed. I think he didn't want me to feel what was going on if the worst had happened." Leia explained. "They're all alright. He's concerned about Han, though."

"That clear, huh?" Sarah sent Leia an impressed look. "You've been working hard on that Jedi stuff, haven't you?"

"Just like you've been working hard on that fighting stuff?"

"Oh, please. That's just 'cause it's fun." Sarah replied cheekily. She hadn't noticed when they'd taken off, so when the first shot grazed their shields, she jumped in her seat. "I thought you were meant to be a hotshot pilot, Loran."

"At least I didn't crash the boat I'm flying into _nothing_." He shot back, before sending the ship into a barrel roll.

"I didn't crash it, the life support and hyperdrive were already malfunctioning. I just picked a dud ride, and I'd bet if I took you to Tortall and told you to pick a horse, you'd pick the worst of the bunch." She retorted. "Now do please focus on not getting us blown up, 'cause the only one I'm saving is Leia."

"I could fly this boat with my eyes shut, dimension girl." The pilot retorted. "I bet you couldn't tell me the class of ship you're in."

Leia muttered the answer just loud enough for Sarah to hear. "Lambda."

"Why, it's a Lambda class shuttle of course." Sarah answered the pilot's question cheekily, and the man muttered something about cheating Presidents.

"What was that Captain Loran?" Leia asked innocently.

"Nothing, Chief of State Organa Solo." He returned, and Sarah could hear the wince on his face. "We'll be entering the atmosphere of the planet in just under ninety seconds, and we're going in hot and fast, so I suggest you hold on."

"Hot and fast like Han in the Firkan system?" Sarah asked Leia warily.

"Except we're not in the _Falcon_." She reminded, and Sarah relaxed slightly.

As Sarah watched out of the viewport she saw X-Wings swooping in and around the shuttle, firing at uglies and the occasional TIE fighter as they got too close to the shuttle. So far they hadn't had much attention – none of the pirates knew Leia was on the ship. As far as they knew it was just a rescue mission to a downed ship.

And of course, Sarah should have known even thinking that thought was bound to bring about a change. "One, I've been monitoring the comm. channels of the enemy pilots."

"Yes, Six?" Face sounded distracted even as he tried giving Shalla his attention.

"I'll patch the last twenty seconds of comm. chatter through the speakers." She replied.

"_I swear, Captain, that was the _Millennium Falcon_ that crashed planetside."_ A male voice insisted.

"_Lieutenant-"_

"_No, really sir. Think about it – the Rebels wouldn't send a rescue transport down there in the middle of a battle unless it was somebody important. And the rescue transport wouldn't have four X-Wings for protection unless there was someone important either on the transport or on the ground. I reckon Princess Leia was on the _Falcon_ when it crashed-"_

"_Or on the rescue transport. You may be onto something here Two. Alright, Slash Squadron, new mission objective. Take down that transport."_

The comm. chatter had overlapped with real time while it was being replayed, now Face swore. "Wraith Flight Two, we have incoming. Stand by for a squadron of eyeballs or uglies targeting _Rescue One_."

"You better be as good a pilot as you say you are, Loran." Sarah muttered.

"Just shut up and let me do my work." He replied.

"The sensors show a squadron of squints on their way." Shalla's voice was concerned.

"Squints?" Sarah asked Leia, who's lips were pursed.

"TIE Interceptors. Faster than TIEs and more maneuverable. Our Intelligence reports didn't even mention they had that level of starfighter in their garrisons. Let me put it this way – if we'd been fighting Interceptors on our way out of the Firkan system things might have been very different." Leia answered.

Sarah's hand found the clasp of the crashwebbing, ready to release it so she could reach Leia and transport her to safety, but she didn't release the clasp just yet, waiting to see what would happen.

Face was talking with the pilots of the flight of X-Wings, discussing strategy in the little time they had left before the enemy squadron was upon them, before he turned the comm. unit off and tossed over his shoulder, "They're going to take the squints on head to head. We've got weapons on this boat – any that they miss we should be able to take out or hold off until they can reach us again."

"Should?" Sarah asked, but Face ignored her.

"Chief of State Organa Solo, this shuttle has another operations chair. If you wouldn't mind taking it, you could help Lieutenant Donos with our defense." The captain asked, expertly weaving away from enemy fire.

Leia unbuckled her crashwebbing without a word, making her way to the chair, and further from Sarah. The knight grimaced, and kept her hand on the release clasp, just in case.

And then the remainder of the TIE Interceptors were on them, firing at them with deadly green lasers. By the time the slightly slower X-Wings had maneouvred around and caught up with the dogfighting there were flashing red lights on most of the consoles in the shuttle, and Donos was swearing under his breath.

"What's our status?" She asked warily.

"I need to focus right now, Gibson, so if you wouldn't mind-" Face's voice was waspish, but Leia interrupted him before he could say anymore.

"Not good, Sarah."

"Right. I'm getting you all out of here." Sarah didn't waste time unclipping her crashwebbing, standing to make her way to the Chief of State. Halfway there, however, one of the squints scored a lucky shot, taking out the inertial dampeners on the shuttle.

Sarah went flying into the rear bulkheads with a sickening thud.

Leia's head whipped around. "Sarah?!"

The younger woman didn't respond, pushed against the bulkhead from the force of their descent. "It doesn't look good, Chief of State." Face advised tightly. "That last shot sheared off our portside wing, and completely took out that engine. The other's only operating at thirty percent. I _might_ be able to take us down, but it won't be pretty without the dampeners. And if those squints take another shot at us-"

"I get the picture Captain Loran." Leia interrupted, turning back to her station and readying herself for the last of the Interceptors.

Thankfully, the rest of Wraith Squadron took care of the five remaining Interceptors before they could do any more damage. Unfortunately, the Interceptors had done enough.

Leia could tell they were headed for the surface too quickly to pull up. Her vision was going grey around the edges as Face tried valiantly to wrestle with the controls. And it was working – they were leveling off steadily. Their speed was still entirely too fast, but so long as they didn't hit the surface-

The impact threw Leia forward, throwing her body against the crashwebbing. Her head went just that little bit further, colliding with the console she had been working at, and she saw no more.

TBC…

I totally didn't intend for it to be a cliffhanger… but then I wrote another 3 pages at the start of the chapter and that suddenly became my ending. I COULD have been nice and added more to the chapter than my average length, but it was a good place to end it. So… sorry!

As per usual, read, review, flame, whatever!

AnotherChance


	21. Chapter 21

A/n… Okay, so I forgot to put a note at the first chapter the Wraiths appeared in, telling you all that I had abandoned canon for these guys, more specifically, what happened at the end of Solo Command (not all of it, the major events still happen), the last of the Wraith Squadron novels. I won't spoil it, it doesn't affect the characters really, just what they were meant to be doing at the end of that book. And there's another big event that I WILL be spoiling, something that happened to a character called 'Lara Notsil', and I'm twisting that event to my will. :D And – this is the first of what will probably end up being several occurrences where I do this – rectifying a situation in the Wraith Squadron series that I wanted to change. And that will involve accelerating an actual event in the entire star wars universe… but I'll stop there, because you'll soon see! Well… by the end of the story, at least.

Read on!

Chapter 21:

"_Rescue One_ has crashed, Sir." A communications officer stated, alarmed.

"_What_?" Wedge stood, walking towards the officer before forcing himself to stop. "Where?"

"About seventy kilometers from the _Millennium Falcon_." The officer said. "No reports on survivors yet."

Wedge gritted his teeth. It was a secret that Leia had gone with the Wraiths and Sarah to rescue Han, which would explain the communications officer's lack of real worry. He didn't know the President of their government was down there, possibly dead. _Screw procedure. If they're still alive down there they won't be for much longer with those pirates gunning for them._ He finished the journey to the comm. officer and hit a button on the console, to encrypt the transmission. "Wraith Nine, _Rescue One _is down. Repeat, _Rescue One _is down. Chief of State Organa Solo is down there with Wraith Flight One and a civilian expert." When it was revealed Leia was down there, there were multiple gasps from the people on the bridge, but Wedge ignored them. "You're to deviate from the battle and rescue any survivors. Priority is Chief of State Organa Solo."

"Request permission to return to the _Mon Remonda_ to exchange out X-Wings for a boat, General." Elassar Targon didn't question his orders, for once. There was no reference to a silly superstition, or not having his lucky undergarments on. That itself told Wedge how worried the Devaronian pilot was about the latest development.

"Granted, but make it snappy. Flight Two is flying protection, but if the enemy gets wind of the precious cargo on the surface of the planet their job'll get a lot harder. We'll have a shuttle prepped for you. _Remonda_ out." Wedge ended the transmission before ordering in a loud voice, "Jam external communications everywhere but here. All transmissions off of this ship are to be routed through the bridge, and only through consoles four and sixteen." He nodded to his two most trusted bridge crewmembers. All of the others had been rotated into bridge service at some stage in the past year, which, while it was the usual procedure for newer crewmembers to get experience on all areas of the ship, it meant he couldn't trust them as well as Lieutenant Saunders and Flight Officer Presans. "All vocal transmissions are to be re-recorded at console four or sixteen, and all text transmissions are to be reentered manually from an unconnected datapad."

There were glances from most of the crewmembers at the extreme orders, which effectively put the lives of the President, four elite pilots and one civilian in the hands of two crewmembers, and the rest of them in quarantine. It said a lot for General Antilles' trust in them, but everyone knew the story of Rogue Squadron's infiltration of Coruscant, before the Capitol was taken from Imperial control by the New Republic. Erisi Dlarit had had his trust, and she'd handed Corran Horn over to the Imperials, while blaming it on Tycho Celchu.

Wedge only hoped he hadn't misjudged Saunders or Presans. And he hoped there was a good reason Sarah hadn't teleported back up to the ship with Leia and the Wraiths.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Donos hung from his restraints, trying to force air to fill his abused lungs. His eyes stung and watered, and it took him a moment to realize his console was letting off a small cloud of acrid smoke, directly into his face. He put a hand on the console to push himself back, leaning against the back of his chair, before looking around. Shalla was already out of her chair, pulling the emergency medkit from its position stowed away in a sealed compartment.

Face was in the process of undoing his crashwebbing with one hand. "Sound off injuries, Wraiths."

Donos coughed on the smoke, hacking for a little while before answering, "All fine here. Just a bit of smoke inhalation."

"A bit knocked around, Lead, but I'll be fine." Shalla replied. "But Chief of State Organa Solo's out, so's Sarkin. And from the way Gibson hit that bulkhead… I doubt she's in any condition to sit up, much less help get back to the ship and the action in any way. And I wouldn't count on her being conscious at all, or I'm sure she would have yelled at you for that landing by now." As she spoke, she removed a bandage, a bottle of hand sanitizer, a small flash light and a vial of smelling salts from the medkit. After making her hands as clean as she could, she moved to Leia's side, examining her pupil dilation quickly before wrapping a small gash on her head with the bandage, to stem the bleeding. Then she undid the cap on the vial of smelling salts, shying away from the scent herself, and held it under Leia's nose.

Leia gasped awake, jerking away from the pungent smell violently. She would have hit the back of her head on the headrest if Shalla's hand hadn't been there to slow the movement. That was when she noticed the headache. Leia only allowed herself to cradle her head in her hands for a brief moment, before straightening again and giving Shalla a nod. "Thank you, Lieutenant Nelprin."

While Shalla had been tending to Leia, Donos had moved for Tyria, shaking her awake gently. The blonde's eyes blinked open blearily, unfocused as she moaned softly. "Myn?"

"How you doing, Tyria? Well enough to protect us from your boyfriend when he finds out you were hurt on our watch?" He asked with a half grin.

She tried to return it, only managing a pained grimace. "I'm blaming it all on Face. You'll be fine."

"Hey!" The pilot argued. "It's not _my_ fault. If our intelligence was better-"

"You're intelligence is questionable." Shalla muttered under her breath, interrupting the start of a rant.

"If we'd known there were squints, I wouldn't have taken a _Lambda_ class shuttle on this mission." Face retorted. "We thought it was just Uglies and TIE fighters."

"And what kind of ship would you have chosen, Lieutenant Loran?" Leia asked, her voice mildly amused and pained at the same time as she watched him move towards Sarah, one arm hugged to his chest.

"An X-Wing, because I would have handed this mission off to Rogue Squadron, of course." He flashed her a grin, and she was briefly reminded of the man in his younger years, starring in films loaded with Imperial Propaganda. Still, she'd rather enjoyed The Black Bantha, one of his last holos. It seemed in light of their crash they'd decided to stop playing the part of proper officers, and start acting like they usually did. Which didn't necessarily include being very polite. Or watching their words about each other in front of her.

Face's grin faded as he crouched next to Sarah. He rolled her over, and a hiss of sympathetic pain snuck from his lips. "She's gonna have one hell of a headache when she wakes up."

"How bad is it?" Leia asked, gesturing for Shalla to help the man.

Shalla joined Face, testing Sarah for a concussion before sending a serious expression Leia's way. "It's not that good, Chief of State Organa Solo. From what I can tell, her concussion's pretty severe." She continued her examination, pressing around the injured woman's stomach, and wincing again. "And I think she's got some internal injuries, probably a bruised kidney."

Leia nodded with a sigh, standing despite the glare Shalla sent her. She tottered over to the small group on legs that shook, before kneeling next to her friend. Without a word, she held out a hand to Shalla. It took her a moment to realize what Leia wanted. When she did, she placed the vial in her hands, and Leia uncapped it one handed before lifting Sarah's head with her other arm, supporting her head and shoulders. Before she could bring the vial to Sarah's nose, Shalla placed a hand over it.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Chief of State-"

"It's just a concussion, correct?"

"And a bruised kidney-"

"Neither of which will be worsened by waking her. In fact, if we _can_ wake her, it would be better for the concussion, right?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Then trust me when I say it wouldn't be very good for any of us if we didn't wake Sarah. She'd be very angry with me. And we can get her medical attention sooner if she wakes – she can just transport straight up to the _Mon Remonda_." Leia reasoned, before gently freeing the hand that held the salts and angling it under Sarah's nose.

What happened next was a showcase of Sarah's multilingual talents. Her response to the smelling salts was to knock the vial away and shoved Leia away, rolling over, holding herself off of the ground with arms that shook. "Why'd you do that?" She asked plaintively when she'd gotten control of herself. There was more than a little pain in her voice.

"Lie back down." Leia instructed softly, pulling on her shoulder to get her to lie straight. "You're injured, and it's pretty bad."

"On a scale of one to ten, one being a paper cut and ten being the state I was in when you found me after Runorlan's lads got through with me, where does it rank?" Sarah asked pointedly.

"About a six."

"So not that bad then."

"When we picked you up after Runorlan had you and the kids, you were severely hypothermic, had several broken bones, internal bleeding, and one eye was swollen _shut._ Not to mention most of the bones in one of your hands had been shattered-"

"So not that bad then. Because if I remember correctly I was that injured when me and the kids ran through an enemy base, disposed of a bunch enemy guards, and stole an empty ship, before piloting said enemy ship out of the enemy base-"

"And breaking down in said enemy ship in the middle of nowhere. Or weren't you going to include that in your little tirade?" Face's mocking statement incurred a death glare from the knight, who forced herself to her feet despite Leia's protests.

She immediately regretted it, and leant back against the wall as nonchalantly as she could manage. When Leia tried to support her, grabbing her arm, Sarah sent her a warning look. "Just give me a minute." Her voice was tight, and a hand was unconsciously clutching at her stomach.

"You should transport back to the _Mon Remonda_." Leia suggested seriously. "You might be functional now, but your internal bleeding needs to be looked at, and your concussion-"

"I'll be fine until we can get a rescue. I'm not transporting back to the _Mon Remonda._ Not unless our lives are in immediate danger. I got this injured because you wanted this secrecy thing to stick, and we _aren't_ going to throw it away by me appearing in the middle of the medbay with a bunch of doctors I don't know. We'll leg it to the _Falcon_ and-"

"We're seventy klicks from the _Millennium Falcon_. You're welcome to start walking." Face retorted sweetly, before hauling her away from the wall. "Take a seat."

Sarah had gasped, doubling over at the rough movement. She didn't see the harsh look Leia threw at Face, all she knew was she had been guided to a chair. When her knees connected with the seat, she let gravity take over, and put her head between her knees for a moment, just in case. It didn't help the pain in her stomach, but the roaring in her ears disappeared. She'd handle a little pain if it meant she was still conscious to suffer it, and protect her friend.

Sarah sat up just in time to hear, "Is there any bactade in that medkit?" Leia asked Shalla. Her voice sounded tinny, and Sarah decided she needed to keep her head between her knees for a little while longer.

"Unfortunately not, Chief of State-"

"Call her Leia." Sarah groaned. "Please, if only until I'm not in the same place as you. I can barely handle titles and other crap like that when I'm at one hundred percent. If I have to waste energy not rolling my eyes every time you use that mouthful, I'll pass out before I reach the boarding ramp."

"You look like you'll pass out before you reach the boarding ramp anyway." Leia muttered softly before looking to Shalla. "But she's right. Let's drop the formalities, we're on an enemy planet without a means off of it. We're all sporting some injury or another. Let's just… drop all the formalities, at least until we get back to the _Mon Remonda_."

"Chief of State-" Shalla began, reluctant.

"Uh uh, no," Sarah shook her head doggedly, sitting up straight once more. "She said 'Leia'. Say it like 'lay' down, with an 'ah' sound at the end-"

"You're real tough for someone who can't stand up straight." Tyria's voice wasn't harsh like Face's might have been, and Sarah glanced up to see the blonde smiling at her. "Nice collision, by the way."

"Thanks." Sarah replied, a grin on her own face despite herself. "I do try. Not necessarily to get injured, but if I must I'd prefer it to be in showy bouts of sheer stupidity."

"You've got more in common with us than I'd thought." Donos mentioned offhandedly, Face scowled.

"Making her an honorary Wraith are we?"

"No. We're going to go find Han, Luke and Chewie and figure out a way to get back to the _Mon Remonda_ without blowing my cover-"

"Sarah, just teleport!" Leia interrupted, exasperated.

"Leia, no." Sarah's tone was serious. "I understand the need for secrecy. Things like extra-dimensional travel aren't exactly big things for your scientists, but it's been achieved before. In fact, the people in the dimension my last official mission was stationed in have met dimension hoppers before. If I go public _here_, in the veritable cradle of technology-"

Face snorted at the implication that the barren wasteland they were stranded on was the 'cradle of technology'. Sarah ignored him and continued. "If I go public here, and the Empire or some upstart Warlord decided to do research into other dimensions, you could be in for some real trouble. So far the missions I've been on have involved nice people being the main power in the dimension, but I've go no doubt in my mind that there exist dimensions out there that are the equivalent of this… but with an Empire-like government in control. I'm the Gods Messenger, I'm supposed to help their chosen to guide the various dimensions in certain directions – but the last Messenger died millennia ago. A lot can happen in thousands of years and I can't be everywhere at once-"

"Well we don't think very much of ourselves, do we?" Face muttered sarcastically, and Leia beat Sarah to the punch. Literally.

She'd whacked him on his uninjured arm, a glare on her face. "She raises a valid point, Face. And if you've known her for as long as I have, it takes a lot of stress to get her to talk about herself as though she's important in any manner."

The casual way the Chief of State had dealt with Face's quip left the rest of the Wraith staring, allowing Sarah time to glare at her and reply, "I'll thank you not to talk about me as though I have some kind of personality disorder, oh wise and knowledgeable Chief of State. I know my own importance-"

"Which is why you took a blaster bolt for a woman you didn't know-"

"You're the President of a galactic government! You're death-"

"Did you know what I was when you saved my life?" Leia asked pointedly. "I could have been an evil dictator that, with my death, would have saved the lives of hundreds of thousands, or millions of people."

"Well… no." Sarah frowned. "I didn't know… but that just says something for my instincts, doesn't it!" She tried. "That, and Mithros wouldn't tell me to save the life of a violent dictator."

The Wraith had watched their argument with slightly disturbed expressions on their faces, now Donos stood. "Right. I'm going to go stand guard until we decide what we're doing."

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Elassar Targon, Lieutenant with Wraith Squadron, leader of Flight Three and self proclaimed master of the universe, tapped a foot impatiently on the deck as the service crew bustled around the new _Lambda _class shuttle, dubbed _Rescue Two_, prepping it for launch. "Hurry up!" He finally bellowed in an uncharacteristic display of dominance.

The workers stopped for a moment, staring, before resuming their tasks, albeit a little faster. It was a few moments later that, in his frequent glances at his fellow pilots, who were also waiting impatiently, he noticed three B-Wing Shuttles, larger variants of the versatile starfighter, sitting unused in a different section of the hangar. If the mechanics had followed proper protocol when scrambling to get the squadrons ready for launch in the wake of the trap they'd fallen into, they'd _all_ scrambled to refuel and reload any missiles and torpedoes on every and any starfighter that wasn't already launch ready. Which would mean that compliment of three B-Wing Shuttles, which could each carry one pilot and two passengers, _should_ be ready to go.

"Dia, head back to your X-Wing. Me, Piggy and Cam will take the B-Wing Shuttles-"

"I've never piloted a B-Wing." Cam Lostern, the newest Wraith, a pilot fresh from the Academy, interrupted him.

Elassar frowned. "What did I tell you about addressing me, Flight Officer?"

"Sorry, Sir, Master of the Universe, Sir." The Flight Officer rolled his eyes. "But that doesn't change the fact that I can't fly a B-Wing."

"Fine. _You_ return to the X-Wing and try to make sure we aren't vaped before we can get these crosses down to the surface to save the President. Dia, you can fly a B-Wing?" He asked pointedly, and the Twi'lekki nodded. "Good. I won't mention how incredibly unlucky it is to pilot a ship when it's usual pilot is out with sickness, even more so when it's a horribly nasty case of the Endregaad Plague, although that's not as bad as when they're out with Chirgotta, because I expect you all know how unlucky it is. So everyone take a lucky charm-"

Piggy sent him a look that could only be interpreted as sheer amusement as he ignored the hand that held the lucky charms and hurried to a B-Wing. Dia just shook her head and followed suit, while Cam, whose hand had been out to take a charm just looked confused as to whether to continue the motion or abandon it. Elassar made the decision for him, tucking a charm into one of the many pockets on his flightsuit, before running after the other three Wraith Squadron veterans. He didn't bother telling the techs working on the shuttle – they'd figure out what was going on as soon as they took off.

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Face had joined Donos on guard duty shortly after Sarah and Leia had settled their argument. Now they both came roaring back up the ramp. "Incoming squint! We have to get out of here."

The Captain ran to Leia, grabbing her to drag her out of the ship, without giving her a chance while Donos moved to Tyria and Shalla to Sarah. But Sarah had other ideas.

She pushed Shalla away, putting a shield up around the exit ramp, trapping them all inside as she dug around in her pocket for something she had kept on her since before she'd dealt with Yahzed. "What are you doing?" Shalla snapped. "We have to get out of here, we'll be vaporized!"

"We'll be mowed down if we go out there. Just let me do this, I know what I'm doing." Sarah promised seriously. Now she dropped to her knees with the black opal held in a tight grip. She placed the stone on the ground, tracing an circle of power around it with her finger, leaving crimson in its wake. Next, she took a deep breath, and prayed to whatever Gods were listening that this worked.

Her head wound had scabbed over since she'd first woken. Now, she reopened the wound, rubbing blood on the opal to enhance the spell. There was a full, proper spell she could say – unfortunately that took quite a while, and she'd never done it before. Numair had told her of the mage Tristan Staghorn's attempt to usurp the crown, and how he'd tried. Sarah was going to attempt the same spell he had used to shield the value they'd been mining. She just hoped it worked.

She grasped for the words she needed in Old Thak, and shouted them loudly as she pressed the black opal onto the deck of the ship with one hand. She poured her Gift into the already full focusing opal, and a steady wind began to build, originating from what lay underneath her hands. When she finished her spell, the wind grew to the point it rocked her back onto her haunches, and she had to let go of the opal. When her hand was no longer obscuring the opal, she saw a crimson bubble build slow, with the opal at its centre. _Shit. It's not building fast enough… screw it._ She scrambled to her feet, pointing a finger at the slowly expanding shield, and yelled, "So mote it be!" While forcing most of her remaining Gift into the opal.

Sarah was knocked onto her back, whether it was from the shield passing through her suddenly – and the rest of the ship too – or using so much of her Gift, she didn't know, but she just lay there blinking. Leia's face appeared in her vision, and she tried to give her friend a nod to let her know she was okay.

Leia said something, but her ears were ringing, so she didn't know whether the loud _crash_ and sound of shrieking was her ears, or something real. But from Leia's reaction, it was something outside.

The Chief of State half rose, staring at the ceiling, and Sarah forced herself to her elbows, glancing out the hatch. The crimson shield stayed in place, even as something flashed into vision for a brief moment. She could only see it very briefly, but it looked like one of the ships that had shot them down, spinning out of control into the ground. When Leia looked to Sarah again, she was a little pale, her eyes wider than normal. Sarah just sighed. It shouldn't have been so much of a shock to Leia – she'd split the ground in front of the Jedi Academy when she'd first gone through the 'prove it' stage. "Great. Now I've broken _you_."

Leia forced a brave smile and held out a hand to help Sarah up. The knight ignored the hand, staying on her elbows. "I'm not ready to get up yet."

"What did you do?" Face's voice was nearly a whisper. He was pale, and looked as though he didn't know whether to be terrified or in awe.

"And now it dawns on the flyboy that I'm not just some kid with a few magic tricks." Sarah muttered, rolling over so she sat on her knees rather than lying down. "I did a spell that I won't be able to do again. You can say your shields were still functional when you crashed and blame something for the reddish hues. I don't know, reflection from the sand or something."

This time, when Leia offered her a hand, she accepted it and allowed herself to be guided to a chair, where she once again put her head between her knees. "Well that was a spot of fun."

Leia sent her a soft smile. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I can't do that again." She repeated. "Just give me a minute."

"So what do we do now? Obviously a squint slipped past Kell." Tyria began, a worried look on her face.

"We need to find a way to get to the _Falcon_ without making it too obvious-"

Sarah was cut off by the crackling of a comm. unit. Tyria blinked and pulled one out of her pocket. "-one read *_kssh*_ -e. This is Wraith *_kssh_* -anyone down there?"

They hadn't heard which Wraith it was contacting them, but from the expression on Tyria's face, she was happy to hear from them. "Seven, we're here."

"Eleven! Are you al- *_kssh*_ Everyone else?" Wraith Seven, Kell Tainer, asked, relief of his voice.

Sarah thought it was interesting he didn't ask after the Chief of State first, but didn't comment. "A few injuries, our civilian expert is the worst hurt."

"*_kssh*_ shield? Where did it come from?"

Sarah sent Tyria a pointed look, and she nodded. "Our shields were still active, Seven. We need another shuttle down here to transport us off of this rock."

"What *_kssh_* the civil-"

"We need another shuttle down here, Seven." Face had taken the comm. from Tyria, and interrupted the question, smoothly covering up the pilot's original query with an assumption of what he had meant. "The civilian expert is injured, but she can sit, and walk, so we don't need any specialized equipment."

Seven took the hint. "*_kssh*_ Three Flight are incoming. ETA three minutes- Sithspawn!"

"What? What happened?" Tyria asked urgently, stealing the comm. back from Face.

Donos had been outside, standing guard against further attack from enemy ships. Now he tore inside, saying, "There's some sort of ground based turbolaser in a compound to our west. It just fired." At the same time as Kell shouted into the comm., "_Mon Karren_ *_kssh_* destroyed!"

Sarah was on her feet, snatching the comm. unit from Tyria before Face could. "Wraith Seven, please advise General Antilles that if the only reason he's still in orbit is to rescue the downed combatants, he should leave. Now. On order of the Messenger."

"Sarah, if Bane's Revival have a superweapon-"

"We've got to destroy it, yes, I agree." Sarah returned with a nod, interrupting Leia. "But we don't need a huge target up there to be destroyed. Now I assume that since these are pirates we're dealing with, that wasn't a warning shot, so they've got to wait for whatever battery they use to power that thing to charge up again. That's their escape window. They need to take it."

"Lead?" Kell's voice sounded over the comm. once more, asking confirmation on the order Sarah had given her.

Face took the comm., throwing a measured glance her way, before confirming, "The Messenger is correct, Seven. Please relay that message and get back to the _Remonda_."

"Yes sir." He didn't sound very happy with the order, but soon all they could hear over the comm. was static, as the X-Wing that had been circling their position started his ascent.

Sarah looked around, at the other occupants of the downed shuttle, before releasing the shield that protected them. When she checked the level of power left in the black opal, she paused. There was still half left. Shrugging, she drew it out and into her core, replenishing the near empty well. "Right. First stop, the _Falcon_."

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"All squadrons, fall back to the _Mon Remonda_. Repeat, all squadrons, fall back to the _Mon Remonda_." Lieutenant Saunders sent the message over the fleet wide communications system as the floating husk of the _Mon Karren_ drifted through their view.

Wedge had received Wraith Seven's communication that 'the Messenger' had ordered him to abandon the battle. He had sighed in relief at Kell's report that everyone had survived, and given the order. Now his crew were looking at him like he was insane, taking an order from 'the Messenger', whom none of them had heard of. He was a General! He only took orders from higher ranking Generals, Admirals and the Provisional Council.

But here he was, taking orders from someone that was probably a high ranking NRI agent… but naval officers didn't take orders from New Republic Intelligence. Wedge knew all of this was going through his crew's head, but he didn't do anything to explain his actions. Sarah's order, from 'the Messenger' had been a blow to her cover, but it was one they could recover from with some creative spinning on his part. Which, he assumed, was the reason she didn't just come out and say 'Sarah Gibson says to leave'.

He made his way to Flight Officer Presans. "If a communiqué from General Cracken comes through, tell me and transfer it to my office. Don't announce it, just let me know that I have a communication waiting for me." He'd said it quietly, in a manner that was meant to be a secret, but he knew for a fact that the officer next to Presans was a notorious blabber mouth. He'd try to keep it quiet… but he'd slip. And then the rumor would be out, that he had expected a call from the head of New Republic Intelligence straight after following an order from an NRI operative. Hopefully, that would be enough.

Wedge still had some official business to take care of. "Tell Wraith Flight Three they need to provide _Rescue One_ with any backup required. If they are advised they are no longer needed, they are to trust the ground troops and rendezvous with the group, on orders of General Antilles."

"Yessir."

Wedge settled back into his seat, and waited for the ship to enter hyperspace.

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"What does he mean, they don't need a rescue anymore?" Targon argued with the comms officer that had relayed the message.

"Those are his orders, Lieutenant."

The Devaronian pilot growled, and slapped at the comm. unit to shut it off. "You heard him, Wraiths. Form up in pairs, Twelve, you're with me. Take it slow – I don't have experience in a cross in atmo, and I don't want any of you showing me up."

Cam laughed as he and Dia jetted passed him, and Elassar sighed. _Was I ever that pretentious as a new addition to the squadron?_

He conveniently forgot to remember that when he'd first reported for duty, he'd stood on his chair and proclaimed himself to be the master of the universe. That would've ruined his self assurances.

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When the crew of _Rescue One_ appeared in the entertainment area of the _Falcon_, Sarah was alarmed to notice a woman with red hair she'd never met before staring at them due to their sudden appearance. But what was more alarming was the… _teddy bear_? The three feet tall teddy bear pointing a knife at them. "Is that…" She frowned, glancing at Leia. "Where did your husband get a baby Wookie from?"

Chewbacca had just appeared from the cockpit, now he growled something in a hurt tone. "That's not a baby Wookie, Sarah." Leia explained staring at the teddy bear. "It's and Ewok."

"That means so little to me it's not funny, Leia." Sarah rolled her eyes.

Now, however, the teddy bear was speaking in a growling yet somehow melodic voice. "Kolot not Wookie. Kolot kill intruders-"

He jumped forward, knife pointed at Sarah, and she jumped back, alarm on her face. "Whoa, there, Winnie the Pooh, calm down. It was an honest mistake."

She was the only one who had jumped back when the Ewok had lunged – the others were all too shocked at his appearance.

"He… he talked." Face's voice was faint. He looked up to the redhead, and there was recognition on his face, mingled with shock. "Lara, you found an Ewok that can talk. You found a Kettch."

The redhead, who had looked just as shocked at their appearance as they had hers, let a small smile cross her face. "I go by Kirney now, Face. And his name's Kolot. He's my copilot." Now she turned to the creature, kneeling to be at his eyelevel. "These are my friends, the ones that I told you about."

Kolot turned to Face, and Sarah could have sworn the expression on his face was one of insolence. "Yub yub, Face."

If Sarah hadn't known any better, she would have sworn the pilot was on the verge of fainting.

A/n.

I HAVE AN EXPLANATION! DON'T KILL ME!

Yes, I know, Ewoks can't talk. WELL THIS ONE CAN! It's true, in the book Solo Command the character Lara Notsil comes across an Ewok that can talk. It will all be explained in the next chapter, so don't worry!

But I wanted to have Lara in this story, and Kolot is just too damn cool to leave out, haha. A talking Ewok! Of course I was going to include him!

Read, Review, let me know what you think of this new development!

AnotherChance


	22. Chapter 22

Okay guys, here's the latest exhilarating chapter of Suspect. I've put an explanation for last chapter in here, don't worry… let me know if it's not enough of one.

Thanks to dares to dream for the review!

Chapter 22:

If Sarah hadn't known any better, she would have sworn Captain Loran was going to faint when he heard the Ewok say 'yub yub'. A quick glance at the other Wraiths confirmed that the shock was contagious. "What am I missing?"

"Ewoks generally don't talk." Leia explained slowly. "It's like… teaching a dog to talk."

"Daine could do that." Sarah muttered, before shrugging. "Okay, so the little fella's one of a kind. Who are these two?"

"I'm Kirney Slane." The red head explained. "And this is my copilot Kolot-"

Donos had frozen in place when he'd seen her. Now he recovered just enough to whisper, "Lara." And draw the attentions of his fellow pilots.

Face looked wary. "Alright there, Donos? Not going to shoot me again?"

Sarah surreptitiously edged between the pilots and Leia. "Care to explain that statement, Face?"

"Uh…" He glanced between Donos and 'Lara'.

Donos explained in a near silent voice, "Last time I spoke to Lara, I tried to kill her. I almost killed Face instead."

"Not good enough." Sarah shook her head. "I want to know _why_ you wanted to kill Lara or Kirney or whatever her name is. I want to know _where_ she came from. I want to know why she's conveniently here, when you are, and there's also a bunch of pirates somewhere around her."

"It's none of your business." Donos' voice was angry, and he turned a glare to Sarah.

"I'm making it my business, flyboy." Sarah returned firmly. "Because we're going to play things by _my_ rules from now on. We tried doing it the 'Wraith' way, and we ended up half dead-"

"With due respect, _civilian expert_, we don't take orders from you-"

Sarah cut Face off with a look. "And I just don't trust you." She ignored the indignant look the actor sent her, and the looks of the other pilots, continuing, "I'm sure you're all very loyal to the Republic, but there are only four people other than myself that I trust in a scrap on this ship, and you Wraiths, and Donos' girl friend, and her little buddy Winnie aren't them. So you'll follow _my_ orders, or Retired General Solo's orders, Chewbacca's, Master Skywalker's, or the President's."

"You're going to relieve Captain Loran of command?" Leia asked, somewhat amused, and Sarah sent her a glare as well.

"I don't care about his rank, I don't care about how many kills he's got, or how many years he's been on the job. He doesn't know me. You do. Han does. Chewie, Luke, they do too. You at least have _some_ idea about my capabilities." Sarah returned seriously. "Do you disagree with me? Honestly? Because if you think Captain Loran here can honestly come up with a plan of attack against a structure that we know nothing about, an _effective_ plan, with no real knowledge of the full abilities of those involved, then I will follow his plan to the lett-"

She was interrupted by a loud, vexed sigh from the man in question. "She's right. So, Gibson, tell me. What can you do?"

"Too much to detail right now, kid." Han's voice came from the cockpit, and Leia was through the door before he could finish. Sarah didn't follow – she assumed she'd be interrupting a private moment.

From Chewie's reaction – he was situated near the door, and could see into the cockpit – she was right. Sarah frowned. "Hey, Chewie, where's Luke anyway?"

"He's working on the hyperdrive." Tyria answered before the Wookie could, and when all eyes turned to her, she blushed, eyes staring at her feet. "I… uh…"

"The Force? You a Jedi?" Sarah asked.

"No." Was the quick answer. "But yes… the Force guided me."

"Ahem. Hi." Face sent Sarah a much too polite look. "I'd still like to know the extent of your abilities."

"And I aint telling you until I know I can trust everyone on this boat." Sarah returned with a pointed look at Lara. "I want to know the whole story – the Republic's retreated by now, we've got nothing but time."

Face looked ready to refuse. Donos moved to stand between Sarah and Lara, as though he could protect the other woman physically from Sarah's demands. Lara placed a hand on his arm gently, a grateful look on her face, before looking Sarah in the eye. "I was a traitor to the Republic."

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Elassar looked overhead as Cam screamed through the air. He gave the pilot an over exaggerated shrug, and keyed his comm. "They aren't here."

"Where could they have gone?" The other man's voice was puzzled, and Elassar felt like rolling his eyes, although the recipient of his disdain wouldn't see.

"We'll check the _Millennium Falcon_'s position, see whether they've been in contact with Wraith Leader."

Elassar ran back to his B-Wing and climbed awkwardly into the cockpit. In moments he was back in the air, his wingman Piggy flying in perfect unison towards the downed light freighter.

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"I was born Gara Petothel. I was trained by the Empire as an Intelligence operative, and under orders I gathered information for the Empire. When the Emperor was killed at the Battle of Endor, a man named Admiral Trigit took control of part of the Imperial Fleet, and my allegiance was transferred to him. Under his orders I infiltrated the New Republic, and planted information that lead to Talon Squadron's destruction… Talon Squadron was Myn's first command." Lara spoke in soft tones, almost detached, but Sarah could hear the undercurrents of pain and regret on her voice.

When Talon Squadron was mentioned, Donos stiffened, and Sarah glanced around at the Wraiths. They each looked somber, and a quick look at Tyria showed the blonde looked more-so as she stared at Myn. Sarah set her confusion at her expression aside and focused on Lara again.

"Shortly after that, Wraith Squadron engineered the destruction of Trigit. I had advised him to submit a surrender message to the Republic forces when it was obvious we were going to lose… instead he offered me a TIE fitted with a hyperdrive to escape with him… he didn't want the Rebels getting another operational Star Destroyer… he was happy to condemn the entire crew of thirty five thousand to death." Her voice was disgusted at this. "So I disguised myself as his unwilling mistress who he kept drugged in hidden rooms so secret only he knew about them, took his personal escape pod, transmitted the abandon ship message, and injected myself with enough drugs to make my story plausible. After transmitting a message to the New Republic forces telling them of Trigit's escape, of course."

"Of course." Sarah replied, deadpanned. She still insisted on hearing it all before moving against the pirates.

"Myn got him with a proton torpedo. The New Republic forces picked me up from my escape pod, and they determined that since I was an 'unwilling captive' I was going to be released… as opposed to being held as a prisoner of war. Lara Notsil was a farm girl on the planet Aldivy… Trigit bombed her home village New Oldtown out of existence when they refused to give him aid. I'd replaced her cellular information, fingerprints, holos, everything with my own. I was released on Coruscant, and I got a job in shipping while waiting for Warlord Zsinj to get back to me on an offer I made him. That's where Face and Phanan found me."

Again, an atmosphere of sadness passed through the Wraith. Lara shared the expression, and Sarah sent a quick look at Leia. She was listening, engrossed, to the tale. Sarah saw Tyria glance toward the corridor that led to the hyperdrive and assumed Luke had emerged from his attempt to repair the component. When he didn't appear, she frowned, but put the thought out of her mind as Lara continued.

"They convinced me to go through New Republic pilot training to try and bring down a black market ring. I agreed, on the proviso they could get me into Commande- General Antilles' squadron. I figured a position in Rogue or Wraith Squadron would increase my standing in Zsinj's eyes. But after my first mission… I found that everything I'd been taught was wrong. I was always taught that the Rebels were bloodthirsty, undisciplined savages that would rather kill you than shake your hand… Mission Order One stated that we weren't allowed to kill the enemy. And the Republic pilots didn't argue, they didn't grumble… they were honestly happy to run 'scared' from Lavisar's defensive forces. And they trusted me. It was at that point that I realized no one ever had before. I'd never had that trust… and it was addictive. I decided I was going to live out my life as Lara Notsil, and ignore Gara… and for once in my life I was happy. I had planned on telling my commanding officer, but it was never the right time, and-"

"And then I put two and two together and outed her." Face interrupted, voice almost impatient. He sent Lara an apologetic look, to which she replied with a small smile.

"So I went to Zsinj, took the job he'd offered me, and helped the New Republic track and destroy him. While I was engineering the plan to keep the _Iron Fist_ from jumping to hyperspace I found evidence Zsinj had a lab, where he experimented on-" Lara couldn't finish as Kolot stood from where he had been sitting against Lara's seat, chittering angrily in his native tongue. Lara pursed her lips, standing to calm him down, but Sarah sent her a look, keeping her in her chair.

"I think I understand where you're going with that."

"Great. Can we leave now?" Face asked pointedly, and Sarah shook her head.

"It's not time yet."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He snapped.

Sarah sighed, frustrated. "I don't know." She stood, pacing as she rubbed the back of her head. It ached, but the ache couldn't be completely attributed to her collision with the bulkhead. "I don't know. I'm not used to having any kind of precognition. And it's bloody hard to trust the sense, but I have to, because it's all I've got to go on at the moment."

"Sarah's right." Luke's voice was even as he entered the main room. "It's not time yet."

"Luke." Sarah gave him a nod, before resuming her pacing. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to stare at Face. "What did you mean when you said she had 'found a Kettch'?"

At this, Face grinned. "When General Antilles was first putting together Wraith Squadron, Major Janson told him the next candidate was an Ewok named Kettch that had been genetically altered to be more intelligent than others of his species. He said that a demented prosthetics expert on Tatooine had made him leg and arm extensions so he could pilot… when Wedge finally realized it was a joke, that was when he sprung the news about Piggy. So Wedge thought he was joking again, until Piggy reported for duty."

"The Wraiths had a stuffed Ewok that seemed to be wandering around the base of its own recognizance, called Kettch. We fooled Zsinj into believing we really had an Ewok pilot, and General Antilles-" Tyria couldn't help the laugh that forced itself out of her throat. "He had to fly an Interceptor with an Ewok doll strapped to his chest, just in case anyone got a look into 'Kettch's' Interceptor and didn't see an Ewok."

Sarah glanced at Kolot, who was still muttering angrily in his own language, and had to repress her own laugh at the mental image the description conjured. Face, however, didn't seem as amused. "Lieutenant Sarkin… you _do_ remember that that mission was still classified?"

The blonde looked apologetic. "She doesn't know what the mission was."

"At the moment, I don't care." The knight added, before turning to Lara. "How did you escape Zsinj and capture by the New Republic?"

"Zsinj had allowed me to keep my snubfighter when I joined him – I escaped in it while Kolot took a shuttle and the rest of the… experiments… out of the battle. I rejoined the battle, but I was shot down. Kolot and Tonin – my astromech – saved me, and we moved to Corellia to start our own shuttle business. But…" She trailed off, looking to Kolot. The little creature toddled over, his expression angry, as far as Sarah could tell.

"Kirney was sad. She wanted to help. But friends in New Rep-ub-lic wouldn't let her. So Kolot modified shuttle without telling and overrode controls. Kolot kidnap Kirney, took into space battle. Kirney not sad anymore."

Sarah bit her lip, trying her hardest not to smile. "You were kidnapped by a teddy bear?"

Lara shrugged. "Yeah. He'd managed to find the secret base of a drug syndicate… though I'll never know just _how_ he did that. That's when I realized I wouldn't ever be happy again if my life just involved selling shuttle craft. If I die tomorrow, at least I know I've done my best to save the lives of innocent people. I got in contact with an NRI agent by sheer accident or dumb luck, while they were investigating the drug syndicate, and since then I've transmitted any data I have on my current projects to them. They don't know it originates from a former traitor, just that the information's reliable. In turn, they've given me information when I request it and the risks aren't too great."

The knight shared a glance with Luke and Leia, who were both focused on her story, before pursing her lips. "Did you betray the New Republic?"

"No." The woman's voice was firm. "Not after I took Lara Notsil's identity. Not after I decided who I wanted to be for the rest of my life."

"Excuse us for a moment." Sarah nodded to Leia and Luke, and the three of them entered the cockpit. Chewie followed closely behind them, just ahead of the door closing. As soon as they were secure, she turned to the others. "Alright. What do we think?"

"She's telling the truth, kid." Han, who hadn't been present for Lara's explanation, said first. "I was the commander of the anti-Zsinj task force at the time. If she were a traitor, she'd have had too many opportunities to kill me, or Wedge, or even blow up the ship. She didn't."

Sarah blinked. "Alright… so we trust her. What about her little furry friend… seriously… he's supposed to be able to pilot?"

"He drove the landspeeder that they arrived in." Han again. He gestured out the viewport to where the speeder was sitting unoccupied. "They came because they saw the crash. If it was pirates, they were going to kill us. When they saw it was us, they offered us medical attention." He waved a hand vaguely at a bandage on his head. "And the very fact that Wedge accepted her into his squadron shows she's good to have at your back in a firefight."

"That could be because of the Imperial training she would have underwent." Sarah muttered, before sighing ruefully. "Alright. So. I should go back out there and explain to Lara or Kirney just how it is I appeared out of thin air, shouldn't I? After I find out what she'd prefer to be called."

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"So, Lara-" Shalla began, a predatory glint in her eyes.

"I go by Kirney now." The blonde turned redhead interrupted.

"Kirney." Shalla conceded, before continuing mercilessly. "Betray any squadrons lately?"

Donos stood quickly, towering over Shalla in her seated position, rage on his face. Lara was also standing, pushing the man back into his seat. "You don't deserve that, Lara."

"I said I go by Kirney now." Her voice was firm, face set as she stared Myn down.

"You're Lara Notsil. That's who you'll always be to me."

"Not Gara?" She was a little shocked. Her actions had engineered the death of eleven members of the New Republic Starfighter Command, directly under his command. Certainly, she hadn't set out to deliberately harm _him_, but it would be well within his rights to hate her, still.

"No."

"Oh please, get a room." Sarah Gibson had rolled her eyes as she reentered the entertainment area. "I want to know everything Kirney knows about the pirate base, but first, I suppose I can explain a few things. My _official_ title is Lady Knight Sir Sarah of Greenstone, Shang Apprentice, Adept Mage, member of King Jonathan of Conte's Inner Council, warden of the Three Sorrows, and Messenger of the Gods. Impressive, I know." Her voice was rueful. "I hate that thing. But it explains more than it doesn't, and it gives you all a bit of an idea as to my actual capabilities. So I'll explain each little bit of it, and hopefully it's quicker than my complete autobiography. I completed knight training in my homeland in just over six months due to the accelerated course I had to take as part of my role as the Gods' Messenger. In that time I passed the examinations of my Gift to be granted the title 'Adept' at magecraft. Both of those mean that I can fight very well in a battle situation, have experience in command, and can do things no other human you've met will be able to do. I am _not_ a Jedi. I don't deal with the Dark Side of the Force. I don't deal with the Light Side of the Force. I just am." Sarah jerked a thumb at Luke, who had wisely kept his mouth shut at this. "Luke here will tell you that even though I use the Gift, which comes from within, I have the Dark Side to worry about. And if he _does_ tell you that, I'll tell him to mind his own business."

Sarah sighed. She didn't want to do the monologue, but Lara or Kirney or whatever her name was had, so she owed her that much. "Anyway. My Shang training was commissioned when I first arrived in my home country of Tortall. That means I can beat you all in a fight. Probably pretty easily. Except maybe Nelprin – she holds herself in a way that would make me nervous if I weren't so damn good. It's lucky I'm so good, or I'd be dead a couple of times over by now."

The redhead she'd aimed the explanation at looked confused. "So you're important on some backwater planet-"

"No. Here I'm just a 'civilian expert'. That was the last part of my explanation. I teleport between dimensions."

"Oh."

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The _Mon Remonda_ came out of hyperspace twelve light years from their original position. Wedge had retreated to his office to sort through the many status reports that had flooded his desk, leaving his second in command in command of the bridge. He'd barely sat down when a call came through from Flight Officer Presans. "Sir. We have a priority message from NRI agent Wessiri."

Wedge didn't know whether to frown or smile. It would be good to talk to Iella for a few moments, to take his mind of the resounding _thrashing_ they'd just received from a ragtag bunch of pirates, and the unnecessary deaths of thousands of crew members of the _Mon Karren_, but Iella had to be calling for a reason. And that reason probably wasn't good. "Patch it through."

Her face was dark. "General."

"Agent Wessiri." Wedge frowned. "What can I do for you?"

"Is this channel secure?"

"Yes. Why? What's happened now?"

Her lips quirked into a bitter smile. "That bad?"

"We just had our asses handed to us by the pirates. They've got a ground based superweapon. _Mon Karren_ is gone." The string of curses that flew from her mouth made Wedge proud, but he pushed that feeling down as he continued. "We had to leave Chief of State Organa Solo on the ground after she crashlanded. She's there with two thirds of Wraith Squadron, her husband, brother and Chewbacca, and Sarah Gibson."

The woman froze. "What?"

"You heard me."

"And you left, because…"

"Because everyone seems to forget that Chief of State Leia Organa Solo was Princess Leia Organa, and used to do what we do, but often with more success. And because… I was ordered to, by Agent Messenger." The look he sent her was full of meaning. Iella's face twitched – it was the only sign she gave she was fighting a smile. But she got the point. "And the purpose of your call?"

"You recall my earlier conversation, where I informed you of the compromise of one of my agents working against Revival? Well, we have news of him from my other agent. She-"

"I thought your other agent was a male?"

"So did I, until I finally received visual communication from her." Iella looked distressed.

"What changed?"

"She didn't have access to the hypercomm unit she were using to send text communiqués. She's been compromised, Wedge. My other agent turned rogue and identified her as NRI. Last I heard she was in hiding, but she didn't know how long she'd be able to keep that up. I'm sending you a holo now." If anything, Iella's expression turned grimmer.

"Does she need evac-" The question died in his throat as his eyes widened. "Is that-"

"Yes."

Wedge pressed a button on the comm., starting a second conversation with the bridge. "I need Colonel Celchu in my office, _now._"

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"Flight Officer Sarkin." Luke Skywalker's voice acknowledged her presence, although he didn't turn around to face her.

"Master Skywalker." Suddenly, she wasn't so brave. She'd thought to corner him in the innards of the ship, to speak with him privately. His dismissal of her abilities with the Force all those years ago had cut her confidence deep, and she thought confronting him would close the wound. Now though, she was having second thoughts. "May I have a word?"

He turned around at this, aiming ice blue eyes in her direction. Despite the colour, they were filled with compassion and understanding as he nodded. "Certainly, Lieutenant Sarkin. What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to say… thank you for not allowing me to entertain thoughts of becoming a Jedi. I know some pilots can handle both, like Corran Horn, but if I had been too focused on my dreams of controlling this power I have, I probably would have been vaped years ago." Despite her fear of the conversation, her voice hadn't wavered once.

The Jedi Master stared at her thoughtfully. "You're welcome. Although I don't know how appreciative you'll be once you hear what I have to say to you."

"What's that?" Tyria asked with a frown. She hadn't anticipated the conversation going on for any longer than her little declaration.

"I believe I may have been wrong about your potential."

The words hit her like a bombshell, and she leant against the wall. "No. _No_. I've come to terms with who I am… you can't just – you -"

"Lieutenant Sarkin… Tyria. Breathe." A hand on her shoulder, and suddenly she had relaxed again, the panic that had ignited in her chest lessening by the second. "This doesn't have to change anything. As it is, I don't believe formal tuition would suit you. You don't have to act on this new knowledge at all, if that is your wish. But your abilities have grown since I last saw you. As have you. That's all I meant by the comment."

"My senses have. I can sense when someone is lying… what they're planning, that kind of thing. And danger."

"Useful in your line of work."

"It can be." Her statement was guarded.

He flashed her a knowing smirk. "And that defensive attitude is too, I suppose."

"It can be." Tyria repeated, but a small smile crossed her face. They stood in silence for a moment, before Luke glanced down the corridor.

"Sarah's not usually like this, just so you know."

"Like what?" Tyria asked, caught off guard. She had been content letting Face fight the battle with the knight, somehow _knowing_ Sarah wouldn't budge.

"Commanding. _Demanding_."

"I thought she hadn't been here for eighteen months. Forgive me for saying so, but how do you know?" She asked pointedly.

"I'm a Master of the Force, Lieutenant Sarkin." His tone of voice suggested omnipotence, and the expression on his face supported it. Until he cracked a smile. "Or it might be the fact that she was with us when we rescued my niece and nephews, and she was quite happy to let my wife take the lead. Although the special agents from the dimension she had been visiting were treated much the way Sarah is treating you. When she trusts you, she'll let up."

"Until then we've been demoted to second class grunts who have to follow the orders of someone years our junior?" Tyria asked, voice angry. "I've earned my place-"

"Ah. That's your problem." Luke gave her a knowing smile before turning back to his work on the hyperdrive. That wasn't the end of the conversation, however. "Tell me, Lieutenant Sarkin... Tyria. Would you be so upset with Sarah and her stubborn ways if she were ten years older? It can't be that she hasn't earned her place – I know you know from the way they treat each other that Leia respects Sarah greatly. As do Han, Chewie and myself. She can be precocious, headstrong and overconfident, but she is loyal to a fault, and has experience that bellies her years. Don't let your grievances with her age, which she cannot prevent, affect the way you approach the situation we find ourselves in."

"She's that good that she impressed you enough to give me that pep talk?" There was still a bit of skepticism in Tyria's voice, but it was almost gone.

"You think, from that speech she gave out there that her ego is even larger than your fellow Wraiths." Luke's smile was still on his face as he turned around to face her once more.

"No, I don't. I could tell – she hated every syllable. But she was right, we needed to hear it so we can understand her abilities." Tyria looked like she was about to say more, but she frowned as she glanced towards the entertainment area. "I'd better get back up there. Shalla is getting feisty."

"Understandably so. Sarah can take a bit of getting used to."

"It's not Sarah I'm worried about."

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Sarah was frustrated. She'd been pacing for the last ten minutes, still feeling the need to wait and hating it. Leia was questioning Kirney again. She'd been asking questions about her movements since the _Iron Fist'_s destruction. "You said you helped bring down a drug syndicate? Where?"

"It was a relatively new one out of Corellia. They had a new base on Selonia, and were expanding into the core worlds. I was recruited by an agent of the NRI." Kirney explained.

Leia looked dubious. "They outed themselves to you?"

"No. But I was trained to spot operatives. I confronted the Targeter, and-"

The Chief of State had turned pale at that. "Targeter?"

"That's what she called herself. She got in contact with me when this pirate organization surfaced, offered me a sort of… freelance position-" Kirney was cut off when Leia stood abruptly.

"Sarah. I need to speak with you in the cockpit. Now." She hurried into the cockpit, yelling over her shoulder, "Han! Come up here!"

He'd gone down to check on Luke's work on the hyperdrive. Now he ran back through the corridors, a frown on his face. "What?"

Wordlessly she nodded to the cockpit. Luke had followed them quietly, and Chewbacca was chuffing mournfully. As soon as the door closed, Leia turned to Sarah and Han. "Targeter was the agent Kirney was in contact with when she took down the drug syndicate. The same agent that's been providing her information – Winter's on the planet."

"Whoa, how'd we get from 'Targeter offered Kirney a freelance position' to _Winter_ is on the planet?" Sarah asked with a frown.

"Targeter was Winter's alias when she was working undercover ops with the Alliance." Leia explained. "If she recruited Kirney to come _here_, probably as backup, she's on the planet herself. Either undercover, or-"

"Outed." Sarah finished, expression dark.

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The silver haired woman stood relaxed against the wall of the cell she'd been placed in, hands stuncuffed behind her. On the other side of the bars that confined her was a man she was going to kill. "Agent Winter… you have to understand. I was offered a lot of money for your life." His voice wasn't apologetic in the slightest.

Winter didn't respond, staring at him with eyes as unexpressive as her face. He met her gaze for a moment, before flinching. "Anyway, they'll be here soon. You'd better be prepared. It's not going to be pleasant." Despite the warning, he didn't look too fazed at the idea of what was to come.

Many agents in any intelligence agency were alone in the galaxy. It was often the only way they could do their job properly, if they didn't have anyone to worry about back home. Or to be used as leverage in situations like these. Just days before her compromise, Winter had received word of her former wards' kidnapping. If the members of Bane's Revival had done their job correctly, Jaina, Jacen and Anakin were sharing a cell somewhere nearby.

Unlike many agents, Winter was going to take that knowledge and use it to survive whatever came next without breaking.

So when a cruel looking man appeared, a long scar running from one temple down his cheek and neck, disappearing below his collar, with another man carrying an ominous looking case, she sent him the same disinterested look. She didn't flinch when the cell door opened.

TBC…

Done!

Sorry it took a little longer… I had to get what I thought was a suitable explanation for my last chapter down, and edited severely.

I hope this was an adequate explanation… if not, let me know, and I'll try and include more of one next chapter.

Thanks for reading, now review!

AnotherChance


	23. Chapter 23

**READ FIRST:**

Author's note:

Alright folks, I know the chapter's late. Unfortunately it'll be a while later.

Due to personal reasons that have contributed to a few health problems, I haven't been able to finish this chapter yet. I have about 8 pages done on this chapter, that I've put on the end of this author's note, but I can't give you an estimated time for the rest. I'm hoping really soon, but that's just optimism at the moment.

Thanks so much for your understanding, and I'll try to get the chapter up as soon as humanly possible.

Anyway, here's what I've got so far… If there are spelling errors/grammatical errors, please let me know. I haven't done the full go over I normally do before posting.

Thanks again

AnotherChance

Chapter 23:

"We have to go rescue her!" Sarah was halfway through the entertainment area, ignoring the startled Wraiths, before Luke could catch up to her.

"It's not time yet. You know that." He explained patiently. "The Force is telling me to wait. I know whatever precognitive senses you've picked up are telling _you_ to wait as well." The Jedi Master's face was serious, even as Sarah tried to pull away.

"Luke, I honestly _don't care_ what the Time Vortex told me. I'm probably wrong. Heck, if I had arrived earlier, instead of listening to my feelings, maybe we wouldn't have fallen into this trap-"

"If we hadn't, we wouldn't be here to help Winter. You have to trust your feelings-"

Sarah tore herself away from the Jedi, glaring viciously at the man. "This isn't the Force_,_ Luke. This isn't the Gift, this isn't the Sight, it's nothing that I know, and it's nothing that I can trust. I'm not 'precognition girl', I'm 'live in the moment girl'. And right now, I'm going to live in the moment, and go and save Winter."

He didn't try holding her back again, but his quiet voice did the job well enough anyway. "Do you trust me?"

Sarah stopped again, turning with a sigh. "With my life, Luke. You know that."

"Not with Winter's?"

"I trust you'd do what's necessary to save innocent lives, whether they be someone you know or someone you don't, Luke." The logic frustrated her immensely.

"Then don't trust the senses you've gained. Trust the senses I have mastered." He reasoned, and Sarah's shoulders drooped.

"Fine. We'll give it a little while longer." She slumped into a seat next to Shalla at the Dejarik table, dropping her head to the holographic tabletop with a _thud_. "Ow."

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Han had been in the cockpit, monitoring the repairs, when a strange energy ready appeared on the _Falcon's_ sensors. _Probably just a ghost in the system from all the cannibalism we've had to do to get the _Falcon_ even flight worthy._

The exsmuggler sighed and stood, peering out the cockpit. His eyes widened as he saw something seemingly appearing out of thin air, fading in and out of existence. "We have incoming!"

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Sarah cocked her head as a faint, familiar sound came from outside the ship, an almost _thrumming._

"We have incoming!" Han's bellow sounded from the cockpit, and Sarah stood, a thoughtful frown on her face. Donos had his laser rifle out and was quickly assembling it.

"Wait a minute." Sarah ordered, the frown still on her face as she trotted to the boarding ramp. The frown intensified, a confused spark added to the expression, as a blue box materialized in front of the boarding ramp. Turning her head slightly towards the ramp but not tearing her eyes from the Police Box, she called back, "Hold your fire… he's a friend… sort of."

Then she crossed her arms against her chest and waited.

It wasn't long before a head full of hair that almost seemed to stand up on its own poked out of the doorway to the TARDIS, a large grin on the man's face. "This isn't Raxacoricofallapatorius!"

Sarah groaned. "No, Doctor, it's not. What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. The TARDIS didn't seem to want to go to Raxacoricofallapatorius this time… she kept on wanting to come here. I wonder why…" He brightened and shrugged. "She must like you."

"That's fantastic. Would you mind taking the TARDIS and… well, leaving? We were about to launch an attack on an enemy complex that's shooting Republic ships out of the sky." Sarah explained, inwardly sighing. She didn't have anything against the Doctor, really… he was just irritating.

"Really?" If anything, the Time Lord seemed more fascinated. "Sounds like a bit of fun. Need any help?"

"Thank you, but no."

"Aw, please." He was actually pleading, and Sarah sent him a disbelieving look.

"You could die."

"So could you. Is that stopping- oh, hello. Sarah, would you mind telling your friend to put down the gun?"

Sarah turned to see Donos with his rifle pointed squarely at the Doctor's head. "Put it down, Donos."

"How do I know I can trust him around my Chief of State?"

"Because I vouch for him."

"How long have you known him?"

"Only a week or so, really-" The Doctor supplied helpfully, and Sarah hung her head, letting out a breath. She'd almost forgotten how frustrating and honest the man could be.

"Then I can't take your word for it, _Messenger_." The Lieutenant seemed angry.

"Is this because I didn't trust your girlfriend, is that it?" Sarah asked, exasperated. "Because the situation's a little different."

"How?" The man asked. Interestingly, he didn't dispute the girlfriend comment.

"Because this man is the only reason I survived the last week. Because if it weren't for Mithros _trusting_ him enough to bring him to my dimension, I would be dead right now. No ifs, buts or maybes. Simple as that, dead as a doornail."

"Or the dodo." The Doctor added cheerily, and Sarah sent him a glare.

"So? Lara saved my life."

"Oh for crying out loud… Leia!" Sarah yelled, and the Chief of State made her way past the rifle wielding pilot, an interested expression on her face. A harried looking Shalla followed her.

"I don't think-"

"Lieutenant Nelprin, if Sarah believes this man to be trustworthy, then I have to believe her." Leia informed the woman firmly, but without rebuke.

"Oh, so you're the Chief of State, are you?" The Doctor's voice was interested. "There must be something about Sarah that makes her attract leaders."

"Yes, Doctor, Leia's the President of this government. And it's more that my job takes me to people in high places – the people most likely to affect the dimension's progress." Sarah explained patiently.

"And you said you were about to storm a complex or something?" He asked hopefully.

Sarah was about to say 'yes, but it's not time yet', when she frowned. She didn't exactly have a feeling of urgency… it was more that she didn't feel they had to wait anymore. "Yeah. Yeah we are. Right now. It's time."

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"Chief of State-"

"I've told you to call me Leia." Leia began as she checked the power levels on her blaster.

"L-Leia." Lara seemed to have trouble saying the name, but she soldiered on. "I get that you don't trust me. I wouldn't either. But you've never met this man that appeared out of _nowhere_, and you're letting him come with you on a dangerous mission? Sarah may vouch for him, but does she know what he's like in a firefight?"

"He'd be hopeless." Sarah confirmed, before sighing. "But we had to wait for him. So he's coming with us. And something's telling me that he's good in a scrap anyway."

"Besides," Leia added, looking Lara in the eye. "I do trust you. You're coming with us."

Lara was shocked, but she nodded, checking the power levels on her own blaster, before freezing. "Just one question. There are twelve of us, and my speeder only seats five. How are we getting there?"

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Sarah looked around curiously. "Well, the TARDIS seems none the worse for wear, considering my little stunt. I thought you couldn't travel between dimensions, anyway?"

"So did I! But it seems, after you absorbed the power of the Time Vortex and gave it back, the TARDIS seems to have absorbed some of your abilities, like the ability to travel between dimensions. I much prefer my own dimension, though, much nicer. People don't shoot ships out of the sky with super lasers there – well, they do. One Christmas when the Sycorax invaded, Torchwood did, but that was a bad day all round…" The Doctor trailed off when he noticed everyone else staring at him. "But anyway! Welcome to the TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It can travel through time and space, and _yes_, it _is_ bigger on the inside."

_I can't believe I'm willingly travelling in this thing. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem like a smart idea._ Sarah thought to herself, but she shook her head. After all, it was the only way for them to get to the pirate base. "Can we just get moving, Doc?

He sent her a startled look, as though he hadn't known he was rambling, before grinning. "Sure! Hold onto something."

"Wait, what?" Face started forward. "What about the seats?"

The Doctor blinked, before gesturing to a leather upholstered seat that could fit two females, if they squished, and no one else. "Sarah and the Chief of State can take those. The rest of you should just hold on."

The knight shook her head before securing herself against the hand rail. "Tyria needs the seat more."

Leia had rolled her eyes. "Just sit down, Sarah. I'll stand."

Sarah just raised her eyebrows, shaking her head. "Nope."

"You're impossible, you know that?" The older woman grumbled, before taking the seat.

The Doctor seemed to take objection to that statement. "She's not impossible. Just a bit unlikely."

"Just get this ship moving, Time Lord." Sarah returned in exasperation.

He frowned at her. "Hold your horses." When she glared, his frown turned into a bright grin. "Alright, let's go!" He spun around and batted at a lever, before twisting a knob and pressing a button. Then he picked up the hammer, and Sarah's eyes widened. He brought the hammer down relatively gently on three sections of the controls, and tossed it aside, before running around to the other side of the control panel.

"Uh… Doc?" Sarah asked, holding on for dear life as the ship rattled and bucked. "You want some help?!"

He stopped in his tracks, expression entirely too innocent, and sent her a perplexed look. "Why? What's wrong with my flying?"

"This is normal?!" Face shouted. "We're all going to die. Gibson, I take it back. You're not a bad flyer. _He _is a bad flyer."

The Doctor had gotten back to his attempt at piloting. Now he frowned, turning around once more. "Well that's just rude. I have half a mind to take you back to the _Millennium Falcon_ and leave you there."

"Just. Focus. On. Flying." Sarah growled as the TARDIS hit a particularly rough spot and her grip was almost ripped off of the rail she grasped tightly. Suddenly, the ship stopped moving. It stopped rattling and bucking, and Sarah cautiously let go of the hand railing. "That was it?"

"Yeah!" The Doctor sounded almost insulted that she would insinuate a trip in the TARDIS should last longer. "It wasn't even on the other side of the planet! Only one hundred and thirty two longitudinal degrees-"

"Right. Whatever. I suppose that's our cue to leave. Doc, stay behind, guard our escape with your sonic screwdriver-" An involuntary snort forced its way out of Sarah's mouth, and before she could continue, the Doctor objected.

"Nah, I reckon I'll come with you, see what all the hubbub is about. Maybe help out if I can." The Gallifreyan suggested, but there was something in his voice that brooked no argument.

"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?" Sarah muttered to herself, before nodding reluctantly. "Fine. Let's go."

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Winter hung from her restraints, teeth locked together in an effort not to scream. She was hanging from a horizontal slab, bound by her hands, feet and stomach. The metal slab was apparently a very good conductor of heat – a fact the scarred man was exploiting fully. Right now, the slab was being supercooled to temperatures below zero. The cold seemed to burn more than the heat, which had been approaching temperatures that would burn human skin, just a moment ago, only to stop just before it reached it.

Her body was going into shock, and all that training she'd underwent was slipping as her body betrayed her. But she held off the scream until her vision started darkening, and she allowed herself to fall unconscious.

The scarred man sighed, disappointed. "She held out longer the first two times. Unstrap her and chain her to the wall. We'll let her body recover, so she lasts longer. I'd hate for her to die before I've had my fill."

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_How did I get stuck with him?_ Sarah asked herself again as the Doctor made another grab at her hand. "I am not holding hands while we run through an enemy compound." She hissed to him. Tyria had also drawn the short straw, and she brought up the rear. Sarah didn't bother looking behind herself to check for the grin she knew was on her face.

"We'll run faster!" He promised.

"No!"

"Oh come on…" The Time Lord was nagging, and Sarah pulled him to a quick stop, pushing him against the wall.

"It's obvious that even though you're over nine hundred years old, you don't do this often." She began, talking quietly and quickly as she looked down the droll corridor. She was wishing profusely she was in Leia's group – she'd argued that they should stay together, but Luke had shaken his head, suggesting vaguely that Sarah and the Doctor needed to see what this corridor held for them, while the rest of them ran for the power conduits that powered the super weapon. "But the fact of the matter is, this is my job. I'm not going to say I'm _very_ experienced, but I know a bit about it, and I know holding hands is not the best way to go about it. I need both hands free – one for my weapon, one for wielding my Gift. So if you really need something in your hands, clasp them in front of you or something. But this is a very serious situation, and I need you to cooperate for once in your extended existence, understood?!"

He pursed his lips before sighing dramatically. "_Fine_. Let's go." And with that, he continued running – straight into a couple of pirates, that had been turning the corner at the same time as he was. "Oh, hello!"

They raised blasters, and Sarah raised a hand sheathed in crimson. A shield appeared between them and the Doctor, just as they fired, and a loud whining filled the hall. _Shit. That was too loud._ Sarah clenched her fist, and the shield moved backwards, quickly, slamming the pirates into the wall. Then she dashed forward, grabbed the Doctor's hand, and ran back the way they'd come. Because just at that moment, half a dozen more pirates turned the corner.

Tyria had taken cover in a door frame, and was providing cover fire for the duo. Sarah reached her, put up a shield, and yanked her out of the doorway. "Doc, open the door!"

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and fiddled with it for a moment, before pointing it at the control panel. The door slid open, and Sarah shoved Tyria inside, then the Doctor. She was next through, and without any prompting the Doctor turned and locked the door with his sonic screwdriver.

"I can't believe it! I seriously can't take you anywhere, can I?" Sarah snapped at the man, not paying attention to the room they'd locked themselves in, or their other ally.

Tyria had turned pale at the feeling of pain emanating from the room, but she hadn't had time to explain that feeling to Sarah when she'd been shoved through the door. Now, though, she looked around. There was a large slab with shackles and a restraint for the subject's waist, and a heating element on the other side of the slab. Tyria swallowed past the lump of revulsion in her throat, as she cast her eyes around the room once more. This time, she found the source of the feelings.

"Sarah!" She snapped, pulling her away from the Doctor and pushing her in the direction of the naked woman hanging from her wrists against the wall.

The knight's eyes widened. "Oh, god, Winter." She was at the woman's side in a flash, and she scrabbled at the shackles that bound her. "Come on, come on!"

When she couldn't pry them open, she let her anger seep into her Gift, and melted the shackles. Winter slumped between the two women, and they barely caught her in time. Her back was the red of a light sunburn, and she moaned lightly when Sarah's hand came in contact with the skin in an effort to catch the woman before she collided with the cold ground.

The Doctor had shrugged off his coat, now he draped it over Winter's shoulders, as the white haired woman began rousing. "Wake up, Winter." Sarah murmured, lowering her to the ground. "Come on, Winter, wake up."

Tyria was helping her with the other woman. Now that Winter was settled on the ground, she stood and walked hesitantly towards the table. When she laid a hand on the table, her shoulders stiffened, and she flinched at the pain she was feeling through the Force. "They tortured her on this thing."

Sarah's head shot up at this, and the expression on her face quickly turned to rage. "What?"

"It seems this set up-"

"Don't." Sarah interrupted. "I don't need to hear it. Let's just get her up and out of here, and contact the main group. We'll take her back to the TARDIS and meet up with them. Have you got an infirmary on that thing?"

Just as she asked that, Winter stirred again, and her ice blue eyes cracked open. "Sarah?" She rasped, before coughing to clear her throat. "What in the name of the Force are you doing here?"

"Helping out. Can you sit?" At Winter's pained nod, Sarah helped her up as gently as possible. "What were you doing here, anyway? How'd you get captured?"

"That's rich coming from you." The spy returned sharply, holding her head in her hands as she pushed herself to her feet. The Doctor's jacket hung down past her waist, and she held it closed with one hand.

"One, this is you we're talking about, not me, and it wasn't a critique, it was an honest question. Two, take it easy, we'll carry you back to the TARDIS." Sarah still had a hold of Winter's arm. Now that the woman was vertical, she wasn't about to let go. The look Winter sent her had her eyes widening. She'd never been on the other end of the woman's colder side – in fact, she hadn't known it existed until that moment. "Or, we could do it your way. What did you have in mind?"

"Is Leia here?"

"Not _here_ here, but here, yes." The sound of blaster bolts colliding with the door made Sarah wince. "How safe are we in here, Doc?"

"The door's locked, but they can still get inside if they blast it down." He explained, not looking worried at all.

"I recognize Lieutenant Sarkin," Winter began, looking at the tall man suspiciously, "But who's he?"

"A new friend of mine. Very annoying. I apologize in advance." Sarah explained quickly. Before Winter could comment, there was a voice from the other side of the door, deep and mocking.

"You are surrounded. If you do not wish to join Agent Winter in our… fun, I suggest immediately surrendering."

"Or, we could, you know, _not_." Sarah yelled back, taking note of the way Winter's arm tensed at the sound of his voice. "How's about you just leave and I don't kill you painfully?"

"Very amusing. But I don't think so." He called back, and the firing on the door resumed.

"He the guy that did this to you?" Sarah asked in a low voice.

Winter's face didn't show any emotion, but she nodded slowly. "Yes."

The knight didn't bother pulling her blaster – she went straight for the dagger Ziva had leant her before she'd left Earth. "Open the door, Doc."

"We should just teleport-" He began, but Sarah just glared.

"Now, Doc, or I start blasting." She warned. He sighed, and pointed the screwdriver. Sarah had a shield up before the door opened; it contained all the blaster bolts that streamed towards them when the door opened.

There were perhaps a dozen enemies behind the door. They faltered at the sight of the crimson shield, but now they were raising their blasters. Sarah didn't waste any time – the shield flew backwards in a mirror of the trick she'd done with the first two pirates. They slammed into the wall, and Sarah strode forward, grabbing Winter's tormenter and lifting him to his feet.

She promptly put the blade to his throat, and hissed in his face, "One reason. One reason why I shouldn't carry out my threat."

"Rebel scum, you wouldn't dream of killing someone in cold blood." The man sneered at her, and she applied a little more pressure with the blade, hoping to intimidate him. His sneer just deepened, and she shifted her grip so she could sock him across the face.

"You're right." She replied through gritted teeth. "Doesn't mean I won't stand by and let your victim do it."

She quickly frisked him, liberating him of a small hold out blaster at the small of his back. Watching him warily, she backed up, and held the blaster out to Winter. "Your choice, Winter."

Sarah had expected some debate in the woman Leia had chosen for her children's protector and nanny. She got none, as the woman checked the power setting on the blaster, and shot her torturer in the head.

The Doctor's eyes had widened when Sarah had given Winter the blaster – only a firm look from Sarah had stopped him from stepping forward. Now his jaw hung open, and he was about to comment when Sarah put a hand over his mouth and dragged him forward. "Come on, let's get Winter back to the TARDIS-"

"No. Where's Leia? I'm going to help."

TBC…

Big thanks to dares to dream for reviewing the last chapter! Also big thanks to hms42, who's been steadily making their way through my stories and author alerting/story alerting/favourite story – ing most of my sarah series!


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